Worried locals wondering where their river had gone discovered when they went upstream that a massive hole had appeared in the ground and swallowed all the water.

The incident happened at the point where the river ran over a mine in Liaoyang County in northeast China on August 22.

The enormous sinkhole in the riverbed resulted in water running into it down a huge waterfall, but the water did not fill the hole as it disappeared into the ground.

Footage of the vanishing river shows it flowing as usual until it reaches the hole, where the waterfall then cascades over the edge, leaving the other side of the river bed dried up and empty.

A Liaoyang County Water Management Bureau spokesman said: 'We are aware that there has been a collapse of the river bed near Tianshui Township.

'The problem is caused by the fact that there was a mine underneath, and that is where the water has gone. It is not our problem; it is the mine's problem.'

A spokesman for the local council said that the cause was still under investigation and refused to confirm or deny that the mine was the reason for the collapse of the riverbed.