Residents forced to flee after their gardens fall into disused mine

Two bungalows were left uninhabitable when a 2m (6.4ft) hole opened up in their gardens.

Residents of the homes in Redruth, Cornwall, were forced to flee after a disused mine collapsed on Sunday.

Properties on the street were said to have lost electricity following the incident.

The bungalows are located in an area with many disused mines, mainly from the tin and copper mining industry.

Historic mine expert Dale Foster said the area used to feature mine engine housing of Wheal Trefusis copper and tin mine.

He told the BBC: "In this case this was a known shaft, I would assume people would have considered it was already remediated to an appropriate standard."

Foster, who works for Wheal Jane Consultancy, added: "It's a very extensively mined area and this side of Redruth tends to be one of the more earlier mined areas.

"Mining activity in this area of Redruth had finished by the mid-1800s to late-1800s so a lot of the mine workings here were less well recorded."

Cornwall Council said the residents "made their own arrangements to leave their homes" and were advised to contact insurers and engineers.

In December, a father said he cheated death by "three seconds" after a 70ft-deep sinkhole appeared outside his front door in Halesowen, West Midlands.

Harri Chadha was caught off-guard when a giant cavern suddenly opened up where he had been standing moments earlier.

Dramatic pictures show how the 15ft-wide hole swallowed his garden path and communal front garden at his home last November.

Chadha said: “I must have done something good somewhere because I really should be dead.”

Fashion photographer Chadha said he had been standing on the path after closing his front door moments before the earth “collapsed in on itself”.

He suggested if it had happened three to five seconds earlier, he “would have been a goner for certain”.

He added: “The sinkhole was 70ft deep, I don’t think they would have ever found my body."