A car with two female occupants was swallowed by a sinkhole that opened up suddenly in central Oklahoma City on Thursday 5 September 2013. The sinkhole was described as being about 6 m wide and filled with water, and is thought to have formed due to a burst water main which washed away sediments beneath the road. Both occupants of the car were able to escape safely through a rear window of the vehicle.
Car trapped in a sinkhole in central Oklahoma City on Thursday 5 September 2013. KFOR-TV.
Sinkholes are generally caused by water eroding soft limestone or unconsolidated deposits from beneath, causing a hole that works its way upwards and eventually opening spectacularly at the surface. Where there are unconsolidated deposits at the surface they can infill from the sides, apparently swallowing objects at the surface, including people, without trace.
The approximate location of the 5 September 2013 Oklahoma City sinkhole. Google Maps.
See also Florida holiday villa collapses into sinkhole, Massive sinkhole opens up in Wallace County, Kansas, Six year old boy swallowed by Indiana sinkhole, Car and driver swallowed by Ohio sinkhole
and Iowa sinkhole linked to nineteenth century mines.
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