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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Sinkhole swallows cars at Corvette museum in Kentucky | Sinkhole swallows cars at Corvette museum in Kentucky |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| An enormous sinkhole opened in the floor of the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky on Wednesday morning, swallowing several of the iconic muscle cars. | An enormous sinkhole opened in the floor of the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky on Wednesday morning, swallowing several of the iconic muscle cars. |
| The sinkhole apparently began to open before 5:45 a.m., when there was no one inside the museum in Bowling Green, according to a statement posted on the museum’s Web site. | The sinkhole apparently began to open before 5:45 a.m., when there was no one inside the museum in Bowling Green, according to a statement posted on the museum’s Web site. |
| The museum said it was alerted to the sinkhole by an alarm company. Firefighters arrived to find a hole 40 feet wide and 25 to 30 feet deep, which had opened up in a large display area called the Sky Dome. | The museum said it was alerted to the sinkhole by an alarm company. Firefighters arrived to find a hole 40 feet wide and 25 to 30 feet deep, which had opened up in a large display area called the Sky Dome. |
| Photos from the scene showed at least two cars in the hole. In all, the museum said, eight Corvettes were affected — six owned by the museum and two that were on loan from General Motors. The GM plant that makes Corvettes is across the street from the museum. | Photos from the scene showed at least two cars in the hole. In all, the museum said, eight Corvettes were affected — six owned by the museum and two that were on loan from General Motors. The GM plant that makes Corvettes is across the street from the museum. |
| The damaged cars included a 1962 model, a 1994 car listed as “PPG Pace Car,” a 1992 model that was the 1 millionth Corvette made, and a 2009 model that was Corvette number 1,500,000. Also damaged were a 1993 “40th Anniversary Corvette,” a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 model, a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder and a 2009 ZR1 “Blue Devil.” | |
| The museum did not release a cost estimate of the damage Wednesday. | The museum did not release a cost estimate of the damage Wednesday. |
| Bowling Green is in western Kentucky, an area with geology — full of karst — that has created an abundance of caves, springs and sinkholes. | Bowling Green is in western Kentucky, an area with geology — full of karst — that has created an abundance of caves, springs and sinkholes. |
| Photos of the sinkhole were quickly disseminated on social media and television Wednesday morning, stunning Corvette enthusiasts. | Photos of the sinkhole were quickly disseminated on social media and television Wednesday morning, stunning Corvette enthusiasts. |
| “By golly, I’m looking at a picture now. Look at how deep it is. . . . Unbelievable. Ugh,” said Gary Mortimer, founder of the National Corvette Restorers Society, in a telephone interview with The Washington Post. He said many of the museums’ cars are the only ones of their kind left and would be difficult to replace. | “By golly, I’m looking at a picture now. Look at how deep it is. . . . Unbelievable. Ugh,” said Gary Mortimer, founder of the National Corvette Restorers Society, in a telephone interview with The Washington Post. He said many of the museums’ cars are the only ones of their kind left and would be difficult to replace. |