A large hole emerged on a slope in Luxi county, Jiangxi province on Saturday, and a highway near the county was closed, Xiaoxiang Morning Post reports on Sunday.

Two holes are seen in a rice field in Zixi village of Luxi county, East China's Jiangxi province, near Shanghai-Kunming Highway, September 3, 2011. [Photo/Xiaoxiang Morning Post]

The hole, about 10 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep, appeard on a slope of Shanghai-Kunming Highway. At present, roads from Yichun to Pingxiang cities in Jiangxi are closed in both directions.

About 200 villagers near the highway have escaped from the sink holes that appeared in wee hours on Thursday, though so far no casualties have been reported.

Several houses have collapsed and the subsidence seems to show a tendency to accelerate, the report said.

Some villagers hold that the subsidence is correlated with an underground river, which was discovered in 2002 during the construction of the Shanghai-Kunming Highway.

Villagers used to drink spring water or pumped water themselves, but in 2009, a well was dug out near the river and village authorities began to sell water at 2 yuan (US$ 0.3) per ton.