A Dublin teenager got a surprise when a sinkhole gave way underneath him as he walked home from school.
Secondary student Paul Gannon, 16, was on his way back from Gaelscoil Colaiste Mhuire in north Dublin when the ground opened and his leg went straight in, up to his knee.
The incident happened at around 4.20pm on Wednesday just outside his house in the quiet cul-de-sac of St Mary's Avenue North, Dublin 7.
Paul's mam Wendy Gannon told Dublin Live: "He noticed what looked like a small crack in the ground but as he stepped over it his leg went straight through it.
"It just appeared out of nowhere. I live on a real residential avenue, there's about 50 kids. It could have been a lot more serious if a smaller child had fallen into it."
Ms Gannon said the hole was "fairly sizeable, bigger than your average dinner plate."
Locals said the area previously had tenement housing with cellars which may have been the case of the ground giving way.
"The ground wasn't very thick over the hole," Ms Gannon said.
"It was really shocking, all the neighbours out looking at it."
She confirmed Dublin City Council covered the hole with a metal plate and sealed it with tarmac a short time later.
Locals in Clontarf, north Dublin, were left baffled last weekend, when a sinkhole appeared on St Lawrence Road.
