This is the moment a shop owner talks on the phone outside his store and the ground collapses underfoot, sending a vending machine tumbling on him in the 20-foot sinkhole.

The incident was filmed in the neighbourhood of Kadokoy in the north-western Turkish city of Istanbul, and the video has been widely shared on social networks.

According to reports, the shop owner, named as Omer Kacagan, was talking on the phone in front of his store when the ground suddenly gave way underfoot, sending him tumbling into the sinkhole.

The man explained that he was talking on the phone during a quiet moment in the shop and said he fell about six metres (20 feet).

Despite claiming that a vending machine fell on him in the hole, he said he only suffered minor injuries and was rescued by the fire brigade within some 25 minutes.

Kacagan told local media: “I was talking on the phone in front of my business because there were no customers. All of a sudden, the ground I stepped on collapsed under my feet. I fell about six metres.

“Meanwhile, a drinks machine fell with me. Fellow shopkeepers and bystanders reported the incident to the necessary authorities, and I was rescued by firefighters around 25 minutes later.”

It is unclear what caused the ground to collapse and if the local authorities are investigating the matter.