The Dead Sea has been shrinking rapidly over the past few decades - and it is retreating more than a meter a year. Some experts believe it will be gone by 2050.

The main factors contributing to the decline of the Dead Sea are mineral extraction, damming and climate change, which is expected to cause a rise in temperatures in the coming decades, which will increase evaporation dramatically and reduce rainfall by 30 percent.

The main side effect of the retracement are sinkholes-

As the briny water recedes, fresh groundwater wells up and dissolves layers of salt, creating large underground cavities, above which sinkholes form. The holes can open up without warning, swallowing up buildings and roads, posing a threat to such visitors and tourism in general.

A once-vibrant tourist destination, drawing tourists and health pilgrims to its salty, mineral-rich water and beautiful beaches, began to disappear and it has been replaced by a dry, salty land dotted with sinkholes that turn beaches and hotels along the coastline into abandoned land.

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