Sinkholes have been appearing in Ireland and the UK with increasing regularity in recent months. What’s causing them, asks John Hearne

Crews with heavy equipment began the demolition of a Florida home over a huge sinkhole where a man is presumed dead after being swallowed by the earth three days ago.

Efforts to find the body of a man swallowed by a sinkhole under his Florida home were called off amid fears that the building would collapse on rescuers.

In a matter of seconds, the earth opened under Jeff Bush’s bedroom and swallowed him up like something from a horror film. About the only thing left was the TV cable running down into the hole.

A man is missing after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa, Florida.