A video circulating on social media captured the harrowing moment a man was drawn into a sinkhole while swimming in a pool in Israel.
In 2022, 32-year-old Klil Kimhi was swimming with others in Karmej Yosef, central Israel, when the pool abruptly drained within seconds.
Fox News reported that Kimhi was attending a work party when the mishap occurred.
The video, which was posted on Twitter, shows the sinkhole rapidly expanding, pulling pool floats into its depths.
Inflatable items, including a flamingo, are seen vanishing into the hole as another man slips but is assisted away from danger by other swimmers.
Most people in the pool managed to escape before the situation worsened, and one man narrowly avoided being pulled in.
Unfortunately, Kimhi did not survive the incident, as confirmed by police.
Authorities stated: “At the end of operational searches, The Police, The Fire and Rescue Services and the IDF Homefront Command located the missing man, an approximately 30-year-old resident of Tel Aviv — unfortunately he was deceased.”
The BBC reported that Kimhi fell into the 43ft-deep hole, requiring rescue teams four hours to reach him, based on local media accounts.
The same outlet noted that another man was also pulled into the hole but managed to escape with minor injuries.
Paramedic Uri Damari told The Jerusalem Post: “This is a very unusual incident.
“When I got to the scene I saw a pit that had opened at the bottom of the empty pool. People who were at the site told me that the pit opened suddenly and within a few seconds all the water of the pool was pulled in.”
A party attendee told Israel’s Channel 12 that 50 people were present, while another said six people were in the pool when the sinkhole formed, creating a vortex that swept two people inside.
Following the event, Israeli police launched an investigation, resulting in the arrest of the couple who owned the property.
The couple, both in their sixties, were initially suspected of causing death by negligence, as reported by NBC News, but were later released under ‘restrictive conditions of house arrest’ for five days.
Israeli media indicated that the couple may have constructed the pool without the necessary permits.