The hole opened up early Monday morning on Beijing East Road and is estimated to be ten square meters in diameter and one meter deep. Workers were seen putting up a temporary wall as someone approached the photographer who took the above pictures to force them to stop taking pictures (as seen in picture #3).

The sinkhole has caused traffic chaos in Nanjing, with traffic on the two-way street now just limited to one lane.

However, this isn’t the first time that a sinkhole has appeared on Beijing East Road. As a matter of fact, there have been four other sinkholes that have opened up while tunnel construction is underway:

• A 40 centimeter-deep sinkhole that opened at October 29 at 5:40am
• A 1.5 meter-deep sinkhole that opened at October 29 at 9am, trapping a passing ambulance
• A 3 meter-deep sinkhole that opened on November 2 in the afternoon
• A 1.6 meter-deep sinkhole that opened on November 10 at 8am

But as news reports tell us, the sinkholes don’t have anything to do with the subway construction. According to a spokesperson for the Nanjing Subway Construction Unit, Monday’s sinkhole is the result of heavy rains that have been falling on Nanjing.

Explanations for the other four sinkholes weren’t mentioned in the report.

Sinkholes resulting from subway construction in China is not limited to Nanjing. This past August, a 300 square meter sinkhole appeared in a densely-populated part of Dongguan that killed a worker underground, while Shenzhen has seen four sinkholes this year arising from subway construction-related causes.

Other Chinese fatalities resulting from subway tunnels collapse during construction include a Shenyang victim last month, and another in Nanning last October.

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Four people in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang Province were stunned when the ground underneath their feet gave way as they stood waiting at a bus top.

A security camera recorded the moment at 5:40pm on August 22 on Guxiang Boulevard in Harbin. One woman is seen clinging to a pipe after the collapse, while another woman and two men fell to the bottom of the three meter-deep hole.

Just prior to the collapse, a crowd of people are seen walking through, indicating this could have been even worse.

Some people at the scene helped the victims get out of the ten square meter hole, while others on the stairwell simply watched and then walked away.

The victims were sent to a Harbin hospital where they were treated for various injuries including sprains and abrasions. Police cordoned off an area 100 meters around the sinkhole as workers attempted to make repairs.

There still has been no official word as to what caused the sinkhole, although an investigation is said to be pending. The hole was repaired the day after it appeared, and reports say business in the area has returned to normal.

Sinkholes in China have become a regular occurrence.

This past May, two pedestrians were injured when a  two meter-deep sinkhole appeared beneath their feet in Duchang, Jiangxi Province. Jiangxi also had another sinkhole back in March when three students were swallowed by a three meter-deep hole in Pingxiang.

In June 2013, a grandmother and her grandson were swallowed up by a three meter-deep hole in Shenzhen. In June 2010, a women was swallowed up by a hole in Chengdu after rains had been pelting the city for days.

Here’s the video of the incident in Harbin:

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The fledging Dongguan subway system has suffered another setback after a massive sinkhole opened up that is close to consuming an entire building.

A sinkhole first appeared on August 12 near the Lianbang residential complex in Changping District during construction of the subway tunnel, but it grew dramatically today at 10:30am and now measures an estimated 300 square meters in size.

A worker underground at the time of the collapse was killed, the first known fatality associated with a sinkhole in Dongguan (though there have been many in neighboring Shenzhen). All nearby residents have been evacuated from their homes as a precaution.

Lianbang Plaza is population spot in Dongguan. The area around the construction and the sinkhole is the busiest in the area.

Today’s development is the latest in a series of sinkholes that have plagued Dongguan. On February 16, 2014, a sinkhole first appeared outside Lianbang Plaza, measuring 40 square meters is size and three meters deep. In June, another sinkhole appeared measuring 60 square meters in size and three meters deep.

Meanwhile, sinkholes have also been a mainstay in nearby Shenzhen, which has had four collapses just this year so far.

The precise moment of the collapse was caught on video, seen here:

Related:

• NPC Rep Builds Illegal Basement 18 Meters Deep, Leads to Massive Sinkhole
• Beijing Times Reporter Bribed Not To Report On Sinkhole
• Five People Hurt After Two Sinkholes in Two Days in Shenzhen
• Four-door Sedan Swallowed by Massive Shenzhen Sinkhole
• Another sinkhole in Shenzhen Swallows Up Two Vehicles
• Another Large Sinkhole Opens Up in Shenzhen

The post Video: Sinkhole in Dongguan So Big it Could Soon Swallow an Entire Residential Building appeared first on The Nanfang.

The sinkhole measured 1.6 meters deep, five meters wide, and six meters long. After the car was picked up by a crane, the area was cordoned off and a tarp was placed over the hole to keep the water out.

State media blamed the heavy rainfalls that have been plaguing the PRD. A local water supplier blamed the city’s underground pipe system, built in 1994, for causing erosion under city streets.

Over the past two years, sinkholes have popped up all over Shenzhen. In 2014 alone, ten sinkholes opened up throughout the city, killing some residents. By 2016, Shenzhen will have spent a total of RMB 2.4 billion to prevent sinkholes from occurring through “underground space management and ground collapse prevention” measures.

Related:

• Another Large Sinkhole Opens Up in Shenzhen
• Huge Sinkhole Opens in Shenzhen, Fortunately in a Green Belt
• Massive Sinkhole In Fujian Swallows Car
• Huge Sinkhole Appears in Dongguan
• Sinkhole in the Middle of a Guangzhou Road

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A four-meter diameter sinkhole appeared at an intersection in Jinjiang on November 27 after a heavy transport truck drove over it. The driver of the car immediately following the truck was able to stop in time and avoid driving into the hole. But shortly afterward a white Kia K2 turned left right into the sinkhole that other drivers successfully avoided.

Two people in the car were able to escape as it teetered precariously over the hole. Mr Li, the driver, described the harrowing ordeal:

It scared me so much that I started sweating all over. My head went blank all of a sudden, I didn’t know what to do.

Not long afterwards, the vehicle flipped over and landed inside the hole as it kept widening. It was eventually pulled out using a crane.

Fujian was the scene of another two-meter deep sinkhole last February. Sinkholes are also somewhat common in Dongguan, and are so common in Beijing that reporters are bribed to prevent them from publishing stories about them.

Here are two GIFs from a traffic surveillance camera that shows the sinkhole first being created, and the white Kia driving into the hole:

Here is a television report on the incident:

Photos: Quanzhou Evening Report, Sina News Video

The post Massive Sinkhole In Fujian Swallows Car appeared first on The Nanfang.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, and repairs to fill the hole have already begun.

Earlier this year, a four-meter deep sinkhole appeared on the Dongguan highway to Huizhou. Another sinkhole in Changping appeared on the highway to Huizhou last February, causing injury to four people (seen below).

Photos: Nandu Dongguan, Yangcheng Evening Report

The post Huge Sinkhole Appears in Dongguan appeared first on The Nanfang.

Several construction workers bribed a reporter with the Beijing Times at the scene of a massive sinkhole on Beijing Metro Line 14, reports Guangzhou Daily.

While attempting to report on the incident, the reporter was confronted by seven to eight workers wearing safety hats. He was accosted and had his camera taken away. The reporter was then photographed receiving a bribe to ensure the story would not be publicized.

According to an eye witness, the hole suddenly opened around 1PM on September 6. The 25 square meter hole, which was 5 meters deep, opened at the construction site directly below Guangshu South Boulevard, near the location of the future Line 14 Futong West subway station in Chaoyang District.

When the Beijing Times reporter arrived at the sinkhole around 2pm, police were not present, nor was there any containment of the area. Upon seeing the reporter, one of the construction workers reportedly said,

What are you doing? Don’t let him go, take away his camera and delete his photos!

No injuries were reported in the collapse of the road, though a nearby car had to be towed away.

Four nearby businesses are currently closed as access to the road was cordoned off, and broken sewer pipes seeping raw sewage have left a foul smell in the air.

Construction workers for the Line 14 Futong Station construction company used two front loader dump trucks to fill in the massive sinkhole soon after the incident occurred.

On the evening of September 6, a spokesperson for the construction company named Mr. Guo, explained that due to heavy rains in Beijing, the soil beneath the road had swollen causing the sinkhole. However, according to Guangzhou Daily, the cause of the sinkhole was a collapse of a safety pillar required for the construction of the subway tunnel.

Photos: Guangzhou Daily

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The one on the Shenzhen Beihuan Avenue, measuring 10 square meters and 4 meters deep, resulted in five injuries including the driver and four passengers, the newspaper said. No one was injured in the second sinkhole and construction is already underway to repair the road.

The taxi’s left front wheel plunged into the cavity and fell off its axle. The driver was left with a fractured ankle and the four passengers all had different bruises, the report said.

Sinkholes have been plaguing Shenzhen for a while. Last year, 10 sinkholes were discovered in the city causing several deaths and injuries, according to the report.

Construction workers are repairing the sinkhole on the Beihuan Avenue in Shenzhen

In addition to water erosion, the sinkholes are caused by the city’s old underground water pipes, according to Shenzhen Water China Group. The water pipes were first installed in the city in 1994, but the company said the shoddy quality of the pipes is leading to erosion.

One netizen wrote: “Shenzhen sinkholes have caused six deaths and seven injuries so far. If you are afraid of talking lifts, you can still use the stairs. But if you are worried about the road, what else are you supposed to do?”

Another one wrote: “The most reassuring thing in the world is keeping one’s feet on the ground. But why do I even have to worry about the ground now?”

 Home page and content photo credit: www.china.com

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Now for the clean-up operation, image courtesy of Southern Metropolis Daily

Local residents near the scene of the sinkhole on Yankui Road had noticed several road signs had been collapsing in recent weeks and that sediment had slid onto a nearby basketball court from the road.

Geng Xueming was driving a delivery truck at 6:15 a.m. when the ground opened up beneath his vehicle. He told reporters that he climbed out himself before calling the police. The vehicles were lifted out by crane and the road was cordoned off.

Deputy Mayor Lu Ruifeng arrived at the scene that afternoon to oversee the investigation, which found the culvert under the road, which was built in 1983, needed to be renovated. A collapsing culvert was also the cause of a sinkhole in Granby, Massachussets in the United States last week.

The Shenzhen Meterological Bureau pointed to the fact that the Xiaomeisha area where the accident took place has seen some of the heaviest rain in the city over the past week, which of course increases the likelihood of a sinkhole.

Headlines were made around the world when a 26 year-old security guard was fatally swallowed up by a sinkhole in Futian District in March and when five died in a sinkhole in Longgang District in May. But, to have a sense of perspective, sinkholes are far from a major cause of death, even in Shenzhen.

h/t Hug China.

The post Another sinkhole in Shenzhen Swallows Up Two Vehicles appeared first on The Nanfang.

The aftermath, image courtesy of Southern Metropolis Daily

It follows the two sinkholes in Shenzhen that made headlines around the world this year: the one in Futian District in March in which the ground disappeared beneath a security guard’s feet and the one in Longgang District in May in which five people were buried alive.

There have also been a number of smaller ones which led to no fatalities, such as the one in June which occurred in a greenbelt in Luohu District.

Sunday’s sinkhole, which opened in Longhua New Zone, saw one of the injured require 9 stitches in his arm.

Due to heavy rain in the previous days, locals sensed there was a chance the road would collapse, so told the police. However, the police dismissed their claims and, lo-and-behold, on Sunday morning the sinkhole opened up just outside 32 Longfa Road.

Two of the injured were staff from the nearby Meijia Suermarket and one of those to fall in was a 12 year-old boy, but he sustained no injuries.

Local officials, such as Longhua Party Secretary Jiang Jianjun, demanded an investigation. However, nobody suggested this would not happen again.

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