As if out of nowhere, a huge hole appeared next to a residential building in Teisenberg on Friday, and a car slid completely into it. Over the weekend the crater got even bigger. Now geologists are investigating the causes.
A crater next to a house in Teisendorf in Berchtesgadener Land continued to grow over the weekend. The hole, which initially had a diameter of about five meters, has become significantly larger, said the spokesman for the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South, Stefan Sonntag, on Monday. In the meantime, however, there are apparently no more new earth movements. “The process seems to have come to a rest, at least since yesterday there has been no further expansion of the collapse site,” said the government of Upper Bavaria on Monday afternoon on request.
On Friday afternoon, the crater suddenly opened up right in front of the house. Apparently underground cavities had collapsed. Iron ore was once mined in the area. Nobody got hurt. A car that was parked in front of the house and initially still hanging on a manhole over the abyss, meanwhile slid into the crater. The area is cordoned off over a wide area.
Geologists are now investigating the site to determine the exact cause of the unusual event. The investigations are still in the early stages, emphasized the government of Upper Bavaria. According to the information, the ground had given way over a former tunnel for iron ore mining at the former Matthäus colliery. The affected and a neighboring house were evacuated on Friday afternoon. It is not yet clear when residents will be able to return. According to preliminary estimates, the damage to property is at least 50,000 euros, according to the government of Upper Bavaria.
The residents of the house on the slope initially noticed “suspicious earth movements”, said the Berchtesgadener Land district office on Friday evening. Then “larger masses of earth collapsed,” which apparently fell into a lower-lying shaft from the earlier mining. It wasn’t immediately clear how deep the crater was. Several media reported that it was 80 meters deep. Similar estimates have been given from the region.