An unsuspecting SUV owner was left with that sinking feeling after finding their vehicle had been swallowed up by a three-meter wide chasm in Rome. There has been an increase in such incidents in recent months.

Members of Rome's fire department were dispatched to the Gianicolense ring road Monday night to prise the car out of the depths using a crane. A much smaller vehicle was resting on the precipice but the firefighters managed to save it in time before it too fell into the murky darkness.

Questa notte una voragine stradale si è aperta lungo la circonvallazione gianicolense, nella zona Sud-Ovest di #Roma: accorsi i #vigilidelfuoco per mettere in sicurezza l’area e i due veicoli coinvolti #soccorsiquotidianipic.twitter.com/XKFzG852cO — Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) March 13, 2018

Si apre l'ennesima voragine a #Roma (Circonvallazione Gianicolense) e, un auto parcheggiata ci finisce dentro #buchearomapic.twitter.com/bZzCtJlaSZ — Giampaolo Poniciappi (@Infoconte) March 13, 2018

No-one was hurt in the incident. The Italian capital has been beset by sinkholes in recent months.

Last month, a four-lane-wide sinkhole swallowed a total of six cars and forced 20 families to evacuate their home. Mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, called for an investigation into the incident and vowed to solve the problem of spontaneous sinkholes.

Huge sinkhole swallows cars, prompts evacuations in Rome https://t.co/6yTfSKcUKJpic.twitter.com/aDfXR8IPIk — RT (@RT_com) February 15, 2018

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