Tourists were stunned to see a two-metre bubbling hole opened up in the sand of a popular beach.
The huge geyser-like hole was discovered on Main Beach on the Gold Coast by local Carolyn Evans while she was heading to work on Tuesday morning.
Evans uploaded photos of the large hole to Facebook yesterday.
She described the “crazy” moment she saw water gushing out of the ground.
“I couldn’t believe it, I’d never seen anything like it before,” he said.
“I spoke to some merchants who work nearby and they were quite surprised too.”
The images showed a huge hole filled with water gushing from the surface. The hole formed a few meters from the shore of the beach.
“I contacted my local councilor, Darren Taylor, to inform him about the hole,” Ms Evan wrote.
The gaping hole (pictured) was spotted on Main Beach on the Gold Coast on Tuesday morning.
“I was worried about safety.”
Social media users who commented on the post expressed their fears about the possible opening of a sinkhole.
A Gold Coast Council spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the hole opened while testing was being carried out as part of the Surfers Paradise Sand Backpass system.
“Routine system pressure tests conducted on Tuesday identified a small leak that caused the incident on the sand at Main Beach,” the spokeswoman said.
“The leak was quickly identified and later repaired that same day and the affected area was filled with sand.”
A Gold Coast Council spokeswoman said the hole opened on the beach while testing was being carried out as part of the Surfers Paradise Sand Backpass system (file image)
The Surfers Paradise Sand Backpass project has been created to protect Gold Coast beaches from erosion.
The project involves replenishing sand from The Spit at the northern end of Main Beach to Surfers Paradise and Narrowneck.
The Gold Coast Waterways Authority’s (GCWA) sand diversion system, located on The Spit, pumps around 120,000 square meters of sand to be redirected to southern beaches.
The project is currently being tested ahead of its launch next week.