"It looks like a bomb went off."

Dark Knight Rises

An almost perfectly round, 100-foot sinkhole opened up in an Illinois park this week, a terrifying incident that was caught on camera.

Astonishing footage from the town of Alton shows a massive light pole between two sports fields being fully consumed by the ground below, leaving behind a billowing cloud of dust.

Fortunately, nobody got hurt, as NBC News reports.

"No one was on the field at the time and no one was hurt, and that’s the most important thing," Alton's mayor David Goins told the Alton Telegraph.

According to Alton Parks recreation director Michael Haynes, the sinkhole appeared due to a "mine collapse deep underground," telling NBC that a limestone mine operated by Springfield, Illinois-based New Frontier Materials was to blame.

"It looks like something out of a movie, right?" Haynes told NBC affiliate KSDK. "It looks like a bomb went off."

Touch Down

It's a highly unfortunate development for the local Gordon Moore Park community.

"It’s shocking to see especially right in the middle of our fields here that we just spent a million and a half dollars on five years ago to complete the new turf, soccer and football fields and concession stand next to it," Haynes told KSDK. "It’s a little disheartening."

New Frontier Materials is now investigating the situation, and it remains unclear if it'll have to foot the bill for repairs.

"The impacted area has been secured and will remain off limits for the foreseeable future while inspectors and experts examine the mine and conduct repairs," the company told KSDK in a statement. "No one was injured in the incident, which has been reported to officials at the Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) in accordance with applicable regulations."

"The mines have been here and in this area for decades and decades," Haynes told local news outlet First Alert 4. "It’s never been brought up before so I’m told it’s an anomaly. We’ll wait until the investigation is complete."

More on sinkholes: Scientists Say Underwater Cave So Deep They Can't Find the Bottom


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