Guests flee as Florida hotel collapses into sinkhole
Thirty-six holidaymakers were forced to flee a hotel close to Disney World in Florida last night when the building fell into a giant sinkhole.
Guests at the Summer Bay Resort in central Florida, about a 10-minute drive from Disney, said they heard loud noises and windows cracking as three floors of the hotel slid into the 15-foot deep crater.
Summer Bay is described on its website as a luxury resort with condominiums, two-bedroom villas and vacation houses in addition to standard rooms. It is sold in the UK by online travel agents including Travel Republic, Expedia and Booking.com.
It has, or rather had, a clubhouse, atrium, hot tubs and a poolside tiki bar, and offered jet skiing, water skiing, canoeing and pontoon boating on a series of lakes scattered throughout the resort.
Guests who were staying in the damaged part of the hotel have been given other rooms.
Sinkholes are an ongoing problem in Florida, which sits on a bed of porous limestone. They cause millions of dollars worth of damage when the bedrock dissolves.
In February, Jeff Bush of suburban Tampa was killed in his bed when his house slid into a sinkhole. His body was never recovered.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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