Two men narrowly escaped death when their boat was swallowed by an enormous sinkhole in the Louisiana bayou.

The two men had moored their John boat to a tree on the southwest side of the sinkhole while they worked with rope skimmers to remove diesel from the surface of the water.

While they worked the tree sank into the 400ft deep hole, pulling their boat down with it, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

A nearby air boat managed to rescue them in the nick of time and they escaped without injury but all clean-up operations have now been suspended at the site.

Today, another 50ft section disappeared into the chasm and scientists warn that the hole could grow to 1400ft.

Governor’s Office of Emergency Preparedness spokesman Christina Stevens said that in terms of the full scale of the sinkhole: “‘We haven’t got there yet.”

An evacuation order is in place for around 150 homes in the surrounding area but many people have chosen to stay put despite fears of natural gas explosions and low-level radiation emitting from the sinkhole.

It is thought that the sinkhole may have been caused by a collapsed brine cavern owned by Houston-based Texas Brine Company.

Image by Youtube.