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Kiwan said he got frantic texts from Charette just before 10:30 a.m. saying, “The van is going to go.”

Kiwan said Charette asked if he could move the van, but the fire department told him there was no way he was going near the hole.

“He said, ‘Mike I’m going to lose the van,'” Kiwan recalled. “We all just sort of crossed our fingers.”

Another photo from Charette at around 11:30 a.m. showed the hole had expanded all the way across the street to within feet of the van. Moments later the van toppled into the roiling stew of water and sewage.

Photo by Jean Levac

“You could see the video. The whole van was like, splash,” said Kiwan. “I was speechless. You can’t say much.”

Kiwan said the jokes haven’t stopped coming from his friends after they learned it was his van.

“Everybody is laughing,” he said, admitting even he is enjoying some of the Internet memes that have placed different creatures into the hole.

The Haunted Walk tweeted Thursday that it had already incorporated the entombed van into its spiel of Ottawa lore.

Have already started telling the tragic tale of The Lost Van of Rideau St. @martinrkipp @jasonfekete#ottawasinkholehttps://t.co/Yyi5Ydwz9V—

The Haunted Walk (@hauntedwalk) June 09, 2016

Even calling the insurance company was a bit of an adventure, Kiwan said.

“That’s what happened, the road swallowed the van,” Kiwan said he told the surprised insurance agent. “Go on the news and watch it.”

Kiwan said he was just glad it was just the van — and not his employee or a bus full of people — that went into the hole.

“It’s material. Who cares?” he said. “The material can be replaced.”

Kiwan said he’ll let the insurance company pursue the city for the replacement cost.

Kiwan figures the van and equipment inside it were worth between $35,000 and $37,000. Kiwan said he’s had to rent a new van to get Charette back on the road.

Kiwan said police called Thursday and told him the “chances are slim” that anything will ever be recovered from the concrete-entombed van.

“I don’t know if it is safe to leave it in the ground with all the gas,” he said.

aseymour@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/andrew_seymour