Robber escapes in world's Biggest Hole...

Nov 24 2008 KIMBERLEY, South Africa. A robber in this historic diamond-mining town led police on a merry chase on Friday-night -- the man had managed to escape his pursuers by spending the entire night clinging to the steep, crumbling edges of the town's world-famous tourist attraction, the Big Hole in the city centre. After robbing the Fruit&Veg shop at the east side of the Big Hole on Friday-evening, the armed man had cut open a fence and crawled in among the bushes. Police weren't about to pursue him there: they said it wasn't worth their lives. It's said to be the world's biggest man-made hole: cut out between1866 to 1914 by some 50,000 diamond-miners only with picks and shovels, it yielded 2,722 kg of diamonds. It was only abandoned after its sides collapsed. It covers 13 hectares (32 acres) in the centre of town and is 1, 600 metres wide. It was excavated to a depth of 800 m and has filled up with 40 metres of water. Police, fire-trucks and emergency services and the local management of the mine, De Beers, had all waiting patiently for the man to re-emerge. The police said that while the robber clearly was 'a danger to the community and had to be caught' - it also was not worth anybody 's life to try and climb down the steep slope in the pitch-dark and risk drowning in the 40-metre- deep, very cold water. At daybreak the man's tracks were followed very gingerly - and these showed that he'd crawled out through the same hole in the fence but had been precariously close to the crumbling edge... After police found a money-container with identity documents at the site, they believe it's just a matter of time before they will catch their man. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole