Two Chinese people were rescued but two others remain missing after falling into a 600-square-meter sinkhole that formed within minutes in a city street following Monday night’s heavy rains, mainland media report.
Image: File Photo
Rescue efforts continued Tuesday morning at the location beside Zhongyuan Road in the western part of Zhengzhou, the news website Dahe.cn reported.
The huge sinkhole appeared in the capital of Henan province at about 7.30pm, just after a heavy rainstorm had stopped.
One rescue worker at the scene told the Henan Business Daily that the sinkhole started out as only a crack on the road surface, but grew rapidly.
Within five minutes, a small sinkhole had formed that led to the collapse of a grassy area beside the road.
Soon afterwards pavements were swallowed up as the sinkhole expanded causing a few passers-by to fall inside.
These people managed to climb to safety but the larger sinkhole suddenly appeared as more ground gave way– rapidly growing to a size of 30 meters long and 20 meters wide – trapping four pedestrians inside.
Two persons were pulled to safety, but two others are still missing.
Three electric vehicles were also swallowed by the sinkhole.
The city’s water supplier said the series of sinkholes was caused by heavy rains, combined with a broken underground water pipe.
Too sad.