A 10-meter-wide sinkhole cuts across Le Van Luong Street (Hanoi).
On the morning of August 19th, a section of Le Van Luong road running through the Duong Noi new urban area in Ha Dong district collapsed, forming a sinkhole 10 meters long, 5 meters wide, and more than 2 meters deep.By early afternoon on August 19th, the sinkhole had widened to over 50 meters.2There are still signs of it spreading.
According to some local residents, the subsidence began around 7:00 AM on August 19th. At that time, a bus had just arrived, and its rear end slipped into the sinkhole, but the bus luckily managed to get past it. This section of road had not experienced flooding due to heavy rain in recent days.
Mr. Nguyen Hoang Giap, Chief Inspector of the Hanoi Department of Transport, said that the Department of Transport has coordinated with relevant units to seal the drainage ditch about 1km away from the subsidence area to prevent water erosion. At the same time, the Department of Transport has also implemented lane separation around the subsidence area, regulating traffic to use other routes.
The sinkhole as seen from the Song Da Thang Long construction site.
By 1 PM on August 19th, the sinkhole had spread to the adjacent section of the road.
The sinkhole also seriously affected nearby structures. As of 12:50 PM on August 19th, observations at the scene showed that the road barrier continued to be pulled downwards.
Explaining the appearance of sinkholes along the road, Mr. Giap stated that the construction of the Song Da Corporation building, located right next to the road, had recently had its retaining piles removed, leaving the ground beneath hollow. This, combined with heavy rain, caused the sinkholes to penetrate deep into the roadbed. Additionally, a broken water pipe caused strong water eddies.
Furthermore, according to Mr. Giap, the depth of the sinkhole has not yet been measured due to continuous water flow and soil erosion. "In my opinion, the road quality is not a problem because if the road were sinking, it would be due to the rubber seals peeling or breaking," Mr. Giap asserted.
At 1 PM on August 19th, the sinkhole continued to swallow more of the median strip on Le Van Luong Street and showed signs of expanding.
According to Laodong-M