A lagoon in Quintana Roo has all but disappeared down half a dozen sinkholes.

State Ecology and Environment Secretary Alfredo Arellano said the Chakanbakán lagoon, located in the municipality of Othón P. Blanco, shrank yesterday from its former 20 hectares to just five after the sinkholes opened up.

The cause is believed to be the resettling of an underlying geological fault.

Public access to the area, also known as Om lagoon, has been suspended as a preventive measure by the federal environmental protection agency Profepa and local police.

The lagoon will remain off limits until the cause of the water’s disappearance can be fully assessed, Profepa said.

Local official Leopoldo Santos said the lagoon’s wildlife now finds itself crowded into a much smaller area.

” . . . Crocodiles, turtles and fish are all crowding” into the remaining five hectares of shallow waters. He said Chakanbakán has been the habitat of many animals but many disappeared yesterday.

Secretary Arellano said that investigations into the event will continue, and that an initiative to declare the lagoon region a natural protected area will also continue.

What remains of Chakanbakán lagoon lies near the archaeological zone of the same name, and about 90 kilometers to the west of Chetumal.

Source: Milenio (sp)