TWO separate sinkholes opened up in a residential street in Swansea last week, barely sparing one family's home.
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The first was 20 metres wide and 10m deep and collapsed above an old 20-metre, vertical-furnace shaft in a couple's front yard while they were out.
It sent tonnes of dirt and bricks into a workshop below, almost taking the front bedroom with it.
A second, two-metre hole appeared two doors down less than 12 hours later, but it caused no immediate danger.
Both homes on Lambton Parade sit atop the former Swansea Colliery, which was abandoned in 1953.
The first hole was caused by the collapse of a ventilation shaft, while the second was related to the first.
Both were stabilised with more than 200 tonnes of cement.
The Mine Subsidence Board doubts whether more sinkholes will open under houses in Swansea.
Subsidence board chief executive Greg Cole-Clark said the board had done its job properly and addressed the situation quickly.
He confirmed that Lambton Parade was not in the Swansea mine subsidence district, but this did not matter because the subsidence board took full responsibility for such matters, whether in a district or not.
