Two people have been arrested in Israel after a man died in a swimming pool sinkhole.
The man, named in Israeli news reports as Klil Kimhi, 32, had been in the pool when the sinkhole opened and was sucked into the 13-meter-deep cavity.
He had been in the villa in the city of Karmei Yosef, about 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem, attending a party with his fellow marketers.
It took rescuers four hours to get there – they had to work carefully because there was concern that more sinkholes could appear – but he was already dead.
Police said Friday that a man and a woman in their 60s are suspected of causing death by negligence.
They have been taken to court and have been released for five days under “restrictive conditions of house arrest”.
Witnesses told Israeli media that there were about 50 people at the party and six were in the pool.
There were also claims that the owners of the villa had built the pool without the proper permits.
Image: Image: Israeli Fire and Rescue Services/AP
Video from the scene showed water from the pool being sucked up the huge hole, as party-goers tried to grab onto things to prevent them from being swept away.
The inflatables in the pool were swept into the hole and disappeared.
Paramedic Uri Damari told the Jerusalem Post: “This is a very unusual incident.
“When I arrived at the scene I saw a well that had opened at the bottom of the empty pool.
“People who were at the site told me that the pit suddenly opened and within seconds all the water was thrown out of the pool.”
A 34-year-old man was also sucked into the hole, but managed to escape with minor head and limb injuries.