A woman has suffered severe burns after falling into a giant sinkhole.
The retiree, who had been walking through Rotorua, New Zealand, fell after the ground ‘opened up’ under her feet.
She was visiting a popular tourist attraction when the incident took place.
A video has been released of the sinkhole, where steam can eerily rise from the sinkhole.
It was created as a result of geothermal activity in the area and is estimated to be about 1.5 meters deep, according to local media reports.
The footpath, located in the Whakarewarewa The Living Maori Village, has since been closed off by the police.
Emergency services were called to the scene on Thursday afternoon.
They found an elderly woman ‘seriously injured’ and a man ‘moderately injured’, The New Zealand Herald reports.
The couple are believed to be husband and wife and are on holiday from Perth, Australia.
The general manager of Whakarewarewa Village, Mike Gibbons, said 7 News staff were quickly on the scene to assist the couple.
He told the broadcaster: ‘We understand that the woman slipped into the hole and that she was eventually pulled out and taken in by our staff.
“We’re just keeping in touch with them and their families to monitor their well-being and recovery from the incident.”
The Whakarewarewa Described as the country’s ‘only living Maori village’, The Living Maori Village offers a range of traditional events and attractions.
Concerned residents had said steam had risen from the street for nearly a week before the woman fell.
In the United Kingdom, last month a huge 20ft sinkhole surfaced in south east London.
Miraculously, there were no injuries to the police.
But the sinkhole had swallowed a motorcycle on the residential street in Bexleyheath and stunned the homeowners.
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