Giant crater opens under family home

A Chinese farmer was shocked to wake up to find that part of his home had fallen into a giant crater.

The huge hole in the ground suddenly opened up overnight in Wuxuan, southern China's Guangxi Province.

Farmer Wei Yilian said he and his family were suddenly woken up by a sound like a loud explosion.

"Then we heard the ground collapsing. We couldn't believe it, it was terrifying," he said.

Part of their home, including furniture and the family's television and hi-fi, fell into the crater which was filled with water.

Wei said he had suspected something was wrong the previous evening when the water in the family's well kept rising.

"I thought it was down to the rainy weather - I never expected that half my house would end up underground," he added.

Experts say the crater was most likely caused by the collapse of a hollow karst structure underground.