A taxi was swallowed by a sinkhole in Denver, Colorado, in the early hours of Friday 26 May 2017, after the driver mistook the hole for a puddle caused by overnight rain, and drove into it. The driver was unhurt, and no passengers were in the vehicle at the time, but the taxi is thought likely to be written off after falling into the two meter hole.
Taxi trapped in a sinkhole in Denver, Colorado, on 26 May 2017. CBS News.
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.
However on this occasion the sinkhole is believed to have been caused by a burst water main, which washed away soft sediments beneath the road until it collapsed. A number of houses in the area have been left without water following the event.
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