The local fire service reports the death of a man who fell into a massive sinkhole in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. The man was riding his motorcycle in the Guangdong district when the road caved in at 18:30 local time (09:30 GMT) on Monday.
Rescuers discovered him dead underground on Tuesday morning at 11:00 local time, about 50 meters (164 feet) from where he had fallen. A car driver was also hurt in the event, which has already become popular on South Korean social media . A dashcam video circulating online appears to show the moment the road caved in near a traffic crossroads. It shows the biker plunging into the hole, while the automobile in front of him narrowly avoids it.
According to local media, rescuers discovered a motorcycle and a cell phone in the 20-meter-wide by 20-meter-deep crater earlier on Tuesda y. The man believed to be in his 30s has yet to be identified by officials. At a previous briefing, Kim Chang-stop, chief of Guangdong Fire Station, stated that the hole included 2,000 tons of soil and water. Authorities have yet to reveal the cause of the sinkhole.
According to a recent report given to the Seoul city government, there have been 223 sinkholes in the city over the last decade.
Poor infrastructure management, aging or damaged pipelines, long-term subsidence, and excavation-related mishaps all contributed to these incidents. A collapse sinkhole occurs when the overlaying rock, which can be clay or sandstone, abruptly collapses into the depression underneath it. However, human activities such as excavation can hasten the formation of sinkholes or cause the ground to collapse similarly.
