Fleeting Wonders: Watch A Chinese Sinkhole Eat a Bus Stop
News of sinkholes hits the headlines on a surprisingly consistent basis. So much so that sometimes it feels as though we are all just walking around on the thin crust of a hollow Earth, waiting to take that one false step that will send us plummeting toward its core.
Over the weekend, this nightmare became a reality once more—and the moment was captured on video. As ABC News reports that this past Saturday, in the city of Harbin, China, a group of pedestrians and commuters waiting at a bus stop learned about sinkholes the hard way, when one suddenly opened up beneath their feet, swallowing five unsuspecting victims, and the bus stop sign.
As the video, which was captured by a noodle restaurant’s surveillance camera, shows, no one appeared to suspect that the ground was unsound. When the collapse occurred, there was no time to jump out of the way.
Fortunately, the hole that opened up was a relatively shallow 10 feet deep, allowing everyone who fell in to be pulled out with only minor cuts and bruises. A small number of bystanders were scraped up when the sinkhole sunk, but they, too, were alright.
The cause of the collapse has been attributed to heavy rain seeping into a drain pipe under the street which weakened the walkway above. The hole at the bus stop has been repaired, but as the video shows, the ground beneath our feet may not be as stable as it seems, and holes can happen just about anywhere, any time. Happy travels!
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