A colossal sinkhole is threatening luxury homes in a resort city

Hundreds of high-rise apartments worth about $500,000 each are under threat of being swallowed by an enormous sinkhole in a popular holiday city.

Most residents have been evacuated from the Vina de Mar tower in Chile, which is danger of collapse after heavy rains caused a 30-metre deep sinkhole to split open beneath the Euromarina II building.

Images shared across news outlets and social media show the earth sloping towards the sea, and a sheer drop into the sinkhole, where lower apartments hang over its deadly rim.

Several mainstay booking platforms have listings of apartments for short-term let in Euromarina II, which is one of several dozen towers built on a dune which was a former nature sanctuary, northwest of Santiago, Chile’s capital.

The 13-level tower is now atop a 15-metre wide and 30-metre deep hole in the earth, news agency France24 reports, which appeared after pelting, persistent rain, which has ruined 2000 homes and cut power to 60,000.

Vina de Mar, a resort city, is caught up in the deluge that has swept central and southern part of the country over the past week, causing mass evacuations and closing schools and businesses.

Sergio Silva, 77, is one the last residents still at his Euromarina property and said he was gathering what he could, ahead of more rain.

“We are taking important things, not everything,” Silva told AFP.

Another resident, Claudio Camus, 43, who lives in a building below Euromarina II, said residents were told their homes could collapse on them.

“Some people have left out of precaution. Those of us who remain are prepared in case of emergency or if we have to evacuate,” he told France24.

Several of the buildings in Vina de Mar were constructed on a nature sanctuary after planning laws were changed 30 years ago.

Until 1994, the area was protected. Now, the 28-hectare dune field is dotted by 44 high-rise towers.

Two landslides last year affected the integrity of three buildings’ foundations, local news outlets reported.

The region has only just recovered from damaging forest fires. In February, blazes in central Chile, including across Vina de Mar, ravaged homes, with reports of thick black smoke and fire balls.

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