The HOLE story: Meteor crash, ghastly quakes and more

We present images from around the world of giant holes caused by heavy rains, earthquakes and a meteorite crash.

A giant sinkhole is seen in this photograph that swallowed several homes in Guatemala City, on February 23, 2007.

At least three people were confirmed missing, officials said.

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A view of the crater caused by a meteorite crash in the southern Peruvian town of Carangas, near the border with Bolivia, on September 16, 2007.

According to local radio reports, farmers living near the site complained of headaches and nausea, which prompted officials to send a medical team to the area.

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A truck is seen in a hole after part of the structure of a bridge collapsed into a river in Changchun, Jilin province in China, on May 29, 2011.

Two truck passengers were injured in the incident, local media reported.

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A general view of a large crater that appeared in the early hours in the central German town of Schmalkalden on November 1, 2010.

The huge crater measuring 30 by 40 metres opened up in the middle of a residential estate, according to local police.

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Villagers walk on a bridge damaged by tsunami hit in Nagapattinam town, 350 km of Chennai, on December 27, 2004.

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People stand next to a 24.9 metre diametre pit at a village in Guangyuan, Sichuan province, China, on February 28, 2013.

According to local media the pit formed on a karst landform last year after the ground surface kept sinking for six days in September. The investigators said the pit may face further sinking after rains due to its geological conditions.

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Policemen check a collapsed section of a crossroad in Hefei, Anhui province, China, on August 8, 2009. A taxi and a few motorbikes fell into the hole, local media reported.

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Members of a television crew stand near a hole in the Paseo Nuevo in San Sebastian, Spain, on March 12, 2008. The hole was caused by a storm that sunk numerous boats and caused extensive damage in the Biscay area.

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An aerial view of the damaged Gran Marical de Ayacucho highway in the state of Miranda outside Caracas, Venezuela, on December 1, 2010.

Thousands of Venezuelans fled their homes after landslides and swollen rivers killed at least 21 people.

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Residents look at a sinkhole near Qingquan primary school in Dachegnqiao town of Ningxiang, Hunan province, China, on June 15, 2010. The hole, 150 meters wide and 50 meters deep, has been growing since it first appeared in January and has destroyed 20 houses so far.

No causalities were reported and the reason for the appearance of the hole remains unclear, local media reported.

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General view of damage in the town centre on June 16, 2010, after floods by Le Real River in Les Arcs sur Argens, south eastern France, the day after unusually heavy rains that hit the region and caused the river to overflow.

Flash floods caused by torrential rain killed 19 people and left 7 missing near France's Mediterranean coast, local officials said.

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Rescue workers remove a bus with a crane from a Lisbon street hole on November 25, 2003. The bus was parked on a Lisbon street in Portugal when the ground began to open up and gobble it.

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People stand by a caved-in area on a paddy field in Fukou county, Hunan province, China, on January 12, 2013. More than 20 pits have been formed from the sunken ground surface in Fukou county during the past four months.

According to the local media, the government's initial investigation showed years of mining destroyed the local underground water systems and led to the numerous cave-ins.

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A crater, which the Libyan government said was caused by coalition air strikes, is seen at an area in Bab al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli, on May 12, 2011.

Libyan officials, who showed reporters around the scene of the air strike, at Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound, said three people were killed and 25 wounded.

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Residents inspect a road that collapsed when a flash flood swept through Toowoomba, 105 km west of Brisbane, Australia, on January 10, 2011.

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A woman walks on the damaged TF326 road after a portion of it collapsed after storms, near the Palo Blanco village on Spain's Canary island of Tenerife, on November 23, 2009.

Torrential rain hit several villages in Tenerife island, blocking some of the roads, damaging others as well as flooding homes and businesses.

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Cars lie in a sinkhole, caused when a road collapsed into an underground cave system, in the southern Italian town of Gallipoli, on March 30, 2007. There were no injuries in the overnight incident, according to local police.

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People look at a collapsed section of Shunwai Road in Nanchang, China's Jiangxi province, on April 25, 2007. No one was injured in the accident, according to local media.

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Workers repair a cave-in area on a road in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, on May 27, 2012. The cause of the cave-in, measuring about 6 meters in depth, 15 meters in length and 10 meters in width, was unclear.

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A sinkhole which damaged an on-ramp to Interstate 15 in San Diego, United States, is seen in this February 24, 1998 photograph.

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