Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report   

Video Credit: AsiaWire

Chinese officials say a 5,000-square-foot sinkhole which swallowed a road and flooded a metro station happened because a temporary underground structure propping the road up collapsed.

The cave-in on Lvcuo Road in the city of Xiamen, in East China’s Fujian Province, swallowed two vehicles whose occupants were fortunately able to escape as water gushed into a sinkhole from a burst pipe.

Footage of the incident showed section of the thoroughfare sinking into the ground at 9:52pm local time on 12th December, with subsequent videos showing muddy water flooding Lvcuo station below.

The incident happened less than 12 hours before the newly built Line 2 of the Xiamen Metro was meant to open to the public for a trial run.

The 32-station route passes through Line 1’s transfer station Lvcuo, but testing of the new commercial service has since been put on hold following the incident.

Video Credit: AsiaWire

In a statement today (16th December), the Xiamen Construction Bureau said a team of experts investigating the collapse had found the cause of the sinkhole.

Lattice columns propping up the top of a temporary underground truss, which was to hold up the road above as the new metro line was being built below, had collapsed from excess weight, officials said.

The structure was independent of metro lines 1 and 2, and would not affect their integrity and that of nearby buildings and homes, the statement continued.

Despite pointing the finger at the failed load-bearing columns, the bureau said third-party evaluators at the site found the build quality of the lattices up to standard.

Officials were still investigating the collapse and promised harsh punishment for those ultimately found responsible.

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