Two teenage siblings were killed and their father was still missing Friday after a giant sinkhole swallowed about a dozen houses in a crowded Guatemala City neighbourhood.

The hole, about 100 metres deep, was likely caused by a leaky sewer main and recent rains, said Eddie Sanchez, the director of Guatemala's Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology.

An aerial view shows a giant sinkhole that engulfed several homes Friday morning in Guatemala City.
(Associated Press)

After the hole appeared early Friday morning, loud noises could be heard emerging from within it and the earth around it shook. Sewage smells wafted in the area.

The two bodies were found near the enormous fissure, floating in a river of sewage.

The dead were identified as Irma and David Soyos, said emergency spokesman Juan Carlos Bolanos. Their father, Domingo, was still missing, according to disaster coordinator Hugo Hernandez.

The sinkhole sucked up homes in a matter of moments, witnesses said.

"I was in my house, and I started to hear booming and I felt the earth shaking, and then I realized that the homes had collapsed," said Maria Rivas, who lives nearby.

Police evacuated 1,000 nearby homes and moved residents into makeshift shelters in schools and a police station.

With files from the Associated Press