After a 30-meter-high ceiba tree fell into a cenote — a natural sinkhole full of fresh groundwater — in the community of Xocén, Yucatán, Maya priests and Mexican officials have started investigating the unusual event, as certain Maya cosmologies consider Xocén to be “the center of the world.”

The collapse occurred last week, when nearby residents heard thunder-like cracks. Upon arrival, they discovered a massive hole into which the tree had disappeared due to the collapse of a cenote vault.

“I felt like it was raining,” Luis Emanuel Ku Ku, who lives a few meters from the place, told news agency EFE. “At that moment, my mother and I went out to see and we heard the well collapse. We thought everything was going to fall and we wanted to go back when we heard the second sound and then we saw the tree completely gone.”

Ku Ku said that the incident could have been fatal, as a group of neighbors had been cleaning up the area just two hours before the incident.

Valladolid Mayor Alfredo Fernández Arceo said the event has captured the residents’ attention due to the sacred significance of Xocén. 

“Many sacred books of Maya culture show this place as the center of the world,” Fernández said. “This implies an important baggage of mysticism with the community and leads to speculation on many topics because people here are aware of the importance [Xocén] has within Maya culture.”

Due to the significance of the event, Maya priests are accompanying a group of experts and cave divers who are conducting studies in the cenote with the support of the Ministry for Sustainable Development of the Government of Yucatan. 

Fernández explained that the divers are studying the entire structure of the cenote’s soil, its stone and its resistance. However, divers are diving into cloudy water with low visibility due to the soil that fell into the water and the branches that cover the vault’s roof. 

“We’re carrying out an entire geological study to have reliable information that allows us to make decisions together with the community,” he added.

Even though Xocén is part of the municipality of Valladolid, it has its own customs, traditions and authorities. These authorities are elected by a body known as the 13 Maya sergeants, guardians of the Sanctuary of the Talking Cross. The Talking Cross was an important element of the 50-year long Caste War of Yucatán. No photographs or videos are allowed in this place.

With reports from Swiss Info