Two buildings housing six shops collapsed 28 January after subsidence in Guangzhou, China, the country’s official news agency, Xinhua, has reported.
The 10m-deep sinkhole extended to about 100m2 near a metro tunnel construction site.
There were no casualties from the incident, Guangzhou Metro Corporation said on its official Sina Weibo account, China’s version of Twitter.
Builders found land subsiding near the project site and helped evacuate the area a short time before the ground sank and buildings collapsed.
Authorities poured concrete into the hole to stabilise the area. Monitoring showed the site was stable, the municipality said. The cause of the incident was being investigated.
Builders found land subsiding near the project site and helped evacuate the area a short time before the ground sank and buildings collapsed
Sinkholes make news with some frequency in rapidly urbanising China.
In June 2012 a sinkhole swallowed a minibus in the city of Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, injuring the vehicle’s driver, Xinhua reported.
The 7m-deep sinkhole opened up at about 5:20am. The driver, the only person in the vehicle, was pulled out and rushed to the hospital.
The northern city of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, has been plagued by sinkholes.
A road in a busy intersection there caved in on 26 December, 2012, reported Caixin Online. The hole was about six meters deep and 15 meters wide. The collapse ruined utility pipes that ran underneath the pavement, prompting officials to turn off the water and gas in the immediate vicinity.
No one was injured when the road collapsed.
2010 saw three sinkholes appear in Taiyuan’s downtown area, causing the partial collapse of a four-storey hospital building, according to Xinhua.
Authorities said the holes were caused by water leaks from an underground pipeline, which loosened the ground beneath the road.
