Tunneling work from China Railway Tunnel Group was in progress at the site when groundwater breached the site leading to the cave in.
A footage of a massive sinkhole swallowing vehicles and buildings on a section of a road in Shanghai, China, is going viral on social media. According to Gulf News, the road abruptly caved in on Thursday, February 12, due to a leak at a Metro construction site nearby. The incident happened at the intersection of Qixin Road and Li’an Road in Shanghai’s Minhang district. No injury or fatality was reported in the incident, but the CCTV video has sparked a fury among social media users.
Municipal authorities cordoned off the area and began operations to clean debris.
The dramatic video shows cracks splitting the road and workers sprinting to safety as dust covers the area due to the sinkhole.
Several reports have earlier pointed to subsidence risk in Shanghai due to its soft alluvial soil, excessive groundwater extraction and rapid urbanisation.
“Lucky everyone stayed safe, railings worked. looks like water flow in the area caused underground holes, not uncommon,” one user commented on X.
“A metaphor that China is collapsing,” said another. “China about to fix this in 12 hours and reopen the road like nothing happened,” a third user said.
A similar incident was reported in January 2024, when part of a road in Minhang district collapsed after a sewage pipe failure. No injuries were reported in the incident.
A few months before this, in August 2023, a 10-square metre sinkhole appeared in another area of the city.
Tunneling work from China Railway Tunnel Group was in progress at the site when groundwater breached the site around 10:30 am on Wednesday, Gulf News further said.
Authorities poured concrete to stabilise it, with nearby offices and apartments temporarily evacuated as a precaution.
