‘Like Titanic film’- witnesses tell of watching boats falling into ‘sinkhole’

Narrowboat owners have told of the “scary” moment they watched a boat being swallowed by a large “sinkhole” which breached a canal in Shropshire.

Some 12 people were rescued and a major incident was declared after reports at 4.22am on Monday of a hole emerging along the waterway, causing large volumes of water to escape onto land in the Chemistry area of Whitchurch.

Footage shows a boat plunging down into a hole while the sound of cracking wood was heard.

Another boat was filmed stranded in the hole as water flowed past it, with a third said to be hanging over the edge.

Phil Johnson, 56, said he woke up to “cracking and banging” and that he quickly got dressed and left his boat.

He said: “I saw the water flying past the boat at horrendous speed, I could hear like a waterfall around the corner from my boat.

“I went and had a look and was greeted by the most horrendous sight of seeing this boat stuck in the breach at the bottom, being basically flooded.”

Mr Johnson said he saw a second boat “teetering on the edge” of the hole before it slowly fell in.

He went on: “It’s awful to say but it reminded me of that horrible scene from the Titanic film, because that’s what it was like, when the back goes down and the bow comes up, and it finally just slid into the hole.

“It was horrible.”

Mr Johnson said when he got back on to his boat to get some clothes he was “frightened to death” as it felt like it was going to tip on its side.

He said he is staying at a nearby friend’s house on Monday night because the boat is his permanent home, adding: “It was probably one of the scariest things of my life, I thought I was going to lose the lot.”

Paul Smith-Storey, 58, said he woke up to a “big crash” with doors opening and items falling on his boat.

He said: “We could hear a massive roar of water and we ran ahead about 90 yards from our boat and saw this massive sinkhole with a boat at the bottom of it, which was a bit shocking because there’ve been breaches before but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a boat at the bottom of a breach hole.

“The scary thing is we nearly moved our boats to those two spots yesterday, where the boats ended up in the sinkhole, so thankfully we didn’t.

“But we’re just thankful that the people on those boats had gotten off safely and were on the other side of tow path and they were shouting to say that they were OK.”

He added: “It felt like a disaster movie, especially when that boat dropped over the edge. It’s just incredible, these steel boats weigh about 17 tonnes and to see the force of water just carry that over the edge is quite scary.”

Mr Smith-Storey said he is staying on the boat with his partner Anthony, 53, on Monday evening, but that they are unable to move from the area.

Emergency services were at the scene after the breach on the Llangollen Canal near New Mills Lift Bridge.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said three boats were caught in a developing ‘sinkhole’ approximately 50 metres by 50 metres in size and that approximately 12 people from nearby moored boats were helped to safety.

Fire service area manager Scott Hurford said it was extremely fortunate that no one was injured during the “unusual” incident.

He said of the narrow boat residents: “It’s my understanding that they recognised the water level was dropping and started to do their own evacuation and raised the emergency services.

“When we came on scene we then supported the evacuation of those narrow boats.”

The fire service area manager added: “We are used to flooding and we are experienced and knowledgeable in that, but not necessarily from the canal network.

“Pathways either side (of the canal) are used regularly by the community.

“It’s very, very fortunate that there was no-one at that particular moment walking a dog or walking along the footpath.”

West Mercia Police said in a statement: “There are currently no reports of any casualties, and residents are being assisted by the fire service.”

The Canal & River Trust said six boats near to the breach site are not in water and that it is hoping to get them afloat in the next few days.

Chief executive Campbell Robb, said: “Our teams have been on site since the early hours, securing and making the canal safe and assisting the boat owners impacted.

“The most important thing is that all those affected are safe and, working with the local authority, there is accommodation in place for the people and pets unable to return to their boats this evening.”