Driver has lucky escape after sinkhole swallows up car on busy China motorway



A motorist had a lucky escape after his car was swallowed by a sinkhole as he travelled along a busy motorway.

The vehicle was trapped, with its front wheels sunk into the chasm, when the gap, measuring about 13ft-wide, suddenly appeared.

The sinkhole – which is the eighth discovered in China in the past two weeks – happened in Nanchang City, capital Jiangxi Province.

Trapped: The vehicle is stuck after a sinkhole opened up in Nanchang City

Balancing act: The ground opened up in the middle of the car as it travelled along the motorway

More than 35 have been found since April.

It comes after a factory and an entire intersection were gulped down by a 100ft deep and 66ft wide sinkhole following a tropical storm in Guatemala last month.

In China, 600 villagers were evacuated after four huge voids opened up in Guangxi Province.

The vehicle is lifted to safety after the busy motorway is closed

Common: A truck overturned and its driver was injured after a hole appeared in a road in Zheijiang Province

Three smaller holes were discovered in May in southwestern Sichuan Province, less than 80 miles from the earthquake in 2008 in which 80,000 people died.

In another incident, a truck overturned and its driver was injured after a hole appeared in the middle of a motorway in Zheijiang Province on the nation’s eastern coast.

The sinkhole measured 20ft deep and 27ft wide.

Devastation: A factory and intersection were swallowed up by a 66ft-wide sinkhole that opened up after storms in Guatemala

A spokesman for the freeway management office said experts on site suspected that the sudden collapse of an underground karst cave created by eroded limestone caused the sinkhole, but the investigation is ongoing.