Man dies after an underwater sinkhole creates a dangerous whirlpool

The whirlpool in Arkansas' Spring River. Photo / Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

Arkansas wildlife officials are urging boaters to avoid a section of a river in the northern part of the US state after a sinkhole opened up and created a dangerous whirlpool that led to a man's death.

Officials with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission confirmed in a statement that a man was killed at the weekend in "a fatal boating accident" when the sinkhole opened up near the Spring River's Sadler Falls near Dead Man's Curve.

The 90km-long river, which runs through Arkansas and Missouri, is known for water sports, such as canoeing, kayaking and rafting, and fishing.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission spokesman Trey Reid said today that the victim has been identified as Donald Wright, 64, from Searcy, Arkansas.

Though the details remain unclear, Reid said witnesses reported that when the sinkhole opened and formed the whirlpool, boaters were ejected from their boats. The victim, who was in a kayak, paddled towards the whirlpool to try to help them.

Officials said the sinkhole opened up in the river bed near Sadler Falls, which is about 240km northeast of Little Rock.

The US Geological Survey states that sinkholes occur when groundwater dissolves bedrock - such as carbonate rock, limestone or salt beds - creating open spaces underground. When the ground can no longer support itself, it collapses, creating a depression - or a sinkhole, according to the USGS.

When this happens underwater, it can create circular currents, such as whirlpools.

Reid said that in such cases when the riverbed breaks away, the water must go somewhere and, in the process, creates a current "like a bathtub drain."

Video showed a flip-flop, a plastic water bottle and other debris swirling around it.

Workers from the US Army Corps of Engineers, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Fulton County installed buoys Saturday to secure the area around the whirlpool.