A truck carrying sand for the construction industry was partially swallowed by a sinkhole in Singapore on Thursday 24 April 2014. The incident happened at about 8.30 am local time when the driver of the truck, named as a Mr Su, was driving south on the Upper Changi Road East towards the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. Part of the road collapsed beneath the rear of the vehicle, causing the front to leave the ground and trapping it. Nobody is said to have been hurt.
The truck trapped in the hole in the Upper Changi Road East, Singapore, on 24 April 2014. Joyce Fang/The Straits Times.
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.
On this occasion the sinkhole appeared close to where a tunnel for the new Downtown MRT Line underground railway is being constructed, and it is thought likely that the sinkhole is linked to the tunneling, although a precise cause for the incident has yet to be determined.
The approximate location of the Upper Changi Road East Sinkhole. Google Maps.
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