A man driving to work this morning on Chicago's Northwest Side got an unpleasant surprise when his SUV tumbled into a sinkhole.



The incident happened at the intersection of Foster and Elston avenues at about 5:30 a.m., said police and a spokesman from the Chicago Department of Water Management.



"I saw him actually climb out of the hole on a ladder," said Joe Springer, whose bar Rabbit's sits at the corner. "The cops told me he was okay."



Tom LaPorte, the water management spokesman, said the 10-to-12-foot hole was believed to have developed after a water main broke under the street and the water washed away the layers of dirt supporting the road.



Indeed, said Springer, neighbors in the area had been complaining for about two weeks of low water pressure.



The nephew, Sarith Khim, said his 66-year-old uncle, named Bok Khim, is a machinist and was driving to work at a factory about mile north on Elston. His uncle told him his Acura MDX SUV nearly flipped over as it fell into the hole. Luckily, the nephew said, his uncle had his seatbelt fastened.



A construction worker passing by lowered a ladder into the hole for the driver to climb out. Bok Khim was taken to Swedish Covenant Hospital with neck pain and bruises, his nephew said.



By about 10 a.m., the car had been removed from the hole with a crane. LaPorte said the damaged pipe would take at least a day to fix.



delsner@tribune.com



alwang@tribune.com