MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A gaping, mile-long crevasse opened early Tuesday along what officials described as a geological fault line in western Mexico, and a fireman who fell into the crevice was reportedly found dead at the bottom of the fissure.
The fireman was one of four civil defense personnel who were using tape to cordon off the crevasse when one of the edges gave way and all four tumbled about 20 feet (7 meters) to the bottom.
Three were rescued alive; one was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, while the other two suffered slight injuries in the fall.
Later, rescue workers using ladders and ropes found the fourth man dead at the bottom of the pit, the government news agency Notimex reported.
The crevasse reportedly opened without warning early Wednesday. It stretches about one mile (2 kms) across farm fields in a sparsely populated area in Zapopan, a suburb of the western city of Guadalajara.
It is as much as 15 feet (5 meters) wide in some places.
"This is a major geological fault," said Zapopan Mayor Arturo Zamora. The government declared the area off-limits and evacuated about 25 families who lived within about 100 yards (meters) of the crevasse.
SOURCE: The Billings Gazette