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Huge sink swallows bus and passengers in China; there are at least 6 dead

2020-01-14T09:17:32.821Z


At least six people died and another 16 were injured after a huge sink swallowed a bus that collected passengers in northwestern China, the last of a recent series ...


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Huge sink swallows a bus in the US 0:46

(CNN) - At least six people died and another 16 were injured after a huge sink swallowed a bus that collected passengers in northwestern China, the latest in a recent series of similar fatal incidents in the country.

A public bus had just stopped at a stop in Xining City, Qinghai Province, on Monday afternoon when a sump suddenly opened beneath it, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Dramatic images from surveillance cameras show passengers boarding the bus when the sinking occurs and the ground swallows the front of the vehicle, a lamppost and people waiting in line, while others at the bus stop fled for their lives.

Rescue teams prepare to take a bus from a sump after a road collapsed in the city of Xining in northwestern China.

A young man who barely escaped was seen picking up a baby from the edge of the sink and taking him to a safe place. Then he returned with several others to help a woman who was hanging on the edge. However, when they tried to lift it, the road collapsed a second time under their feet, throwing everyone into the well.

Seconds later, an explosion can be seen inside the sump, sending a fireball on the ground, followed by a thick column of smoke and some smaller explosions.

Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing. A total of six bodies were found and 16 people are being treated at the hospital, the Xining municipal government said at a press conference Tuesday morning.

Government officials estimated that the sump covers an area of ​​approximately 80 square meters. The images of the scene, early Tuesday, show rescuers taking the bus out of the hole with a large crane.

From hero to victim

Passer Sun Wanhong, a retired armed police officer, was among the group of people who tried to help a woman out of the sink, but ended up falling inside after the road collapsed again.

“I heard someone shout 'Help! Help!' and I ran I saw a person hanging on the edge, so I extended my hand to grab it. As soon as I reached it, (the road) collapsed again and there was nothing in the background, and several people who were helping next to me fell, he told state news magazine China Newsweek.

“There was water running upstairs, and there was an explosion due to the power cord. The sound was very loud ... a water pipe broke and the water fell, ”he said.

Sun pulled a teenager trapped in mud at the bottom of the well and held another child in his arms as they tried to walk to the edge to climb. Sun suffered multiple bone fractures and is being treated in a hospital, according to the report.

It had happened before

The sinking took place on a busy main street in the center of the city of Xining, the capital of the province and the largest city in the far northwestern province of Qinghai.

The authorities are still investigating the cause of the sinking. But the incident has caused outrage online, and many wonder why sinks continue to appear in Chinese cities.

Sinks generally form when acid rainwater dissolves limestone or similar rock beneath the ground, leaving a large void that collapses when it can no longer support the weight of what is above, be it an open field, a path or a house.

But there is also a growing concern that the poor safety standards of public construction projects in Chinese cities, which have expanded rapidly in recent decades, could have played a role in some cases.

On December 1, three people in two vehicles fell into a huge sump that suddenly appeared in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, near the construction site of a new underground railway line.

Only 11 days later, a road collapsed in the coastal city of Xiamen, again at an underground construction site, trapping at least two vehicles. No one was injured in this incident.

In 2018, four people died in Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, after sinking into a sinkhole while the pavement collapsed beneath them.

Sink

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-01-14

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