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Sinkhole swallows man, grandson

Published

6 years ago

October 9, 2018

Rescuers in China are searching for a man and his grandson after the pair plunged into a pavement sinkhole that also claimed the lives of two others.
The freak accident happened at around 2 . 30 pm ( local time ) on Sunday when the sinkhole measuring over seven metres wide suddenly opened up in a busy commercial district in Dazhou city in south-western China .

Five people fell into the hole after the pavement gave way , with one young man immediately plucked out by passers -by, while the four others disappeared into the ground .

CCTV images from a nearby shop show the victims unable to reach safety before the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapses .

The footage also shows two firefighters nearly becoming victims of the sinkhole themselves when a secondary collapse occurs while they are inside .

The pair managed to scramble to safety as the ground continues to cave in , the video shows .

It took rescuers some 10 hours to locate the first victim at 12 . 10 am the following day . The second was found at 9 . 36 am , but both were declared dead by awaiting paramedics .

Officials say the two missing victims are a man and his grandson , who had been missing for more than 24 hours at the time of writing .

Rescuers have significantly widened the search area using excavators , while the exact cause of the collapse is still being investigated , according to Chinese state media .

( Yahoo News UK )