Woman spends several minutes underground after car sucked up by giant sinkhole

11 January 2024 , 17:15

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Woman spends several minutes underground after car sucked up by giant sinkhole

A woman driving into town had to be rescued when her car fell bonnet first into a huge sinkhole that swallowed almost all of the entire car.

The Mitsubishi Colt plunged into a collapsed sewer beneath the street in Azov, Rostov in Russia. Witnesses described how the road surface suddenly opened in front of her as she drove over it. Passers-by found a ladder to help a would-be rescuer as the distressed driver, named locally as Irina, escaped the sunken car by climbing out of its boot. She was helped by two onlookers after several minutes underground.

The woman was reported to be uninjured after the alarming incident. She was seen in tears as she hugged a man at the scene after her rescue from the stricken vehicle. Readovska news outlet reported: “[She was] very lucky the car did not go completely underground. The car, which for a while turned into a survival attraction, was left hanging on its rear wheels.”

A resident told Caution News: “The sewerage system has been a problem in the city for a very long time.” Rescuers pulled the woman to safety before the arrival of the emergency services. Footage showed a crane pulling the damaged car out of the sinkhole.‌

The stricken car dangling from the large sinkhole (@azov_novosti_sobitiya/east2west news)

The woman hugged some of the rescuers after her ideal (@azov_novosti_sobitiya/east2west news)

The incident comes as Vladimir Putin ’s regime is being blamed for ignoring repairs to basic infrastructure and diverting money to his war against Ukraine. Elsewhere, hundreds of thousands of Russians are freezing because their state-managed heating system has broken down.

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Last year a huge sinkhole the size of a car opened suddenly in the middle of a London street, and nearly swallowed a nearby post box. Residents of Dunvegan Road in Eltham, Greenwich, raised the alarm when they woke to discover the large gap. For safety, they placed a number of wheelie bins around the danger in case anyone wandered too close.

Resident Andrew Hudson, shared a photograph of the sinkhole to a local group, adding: “Next to Mayday Cars cab office, be aware. I feel sorry for anyone who has posted important letters in the post box there because they are not being collected anytime soon."

Antony Clements-Thrower