Hong Kong taxi driver and passenger escape as car plunges into sinkhole

Taxi driver sustains injuries after pipe burst causes sinkhole

Hong Kong taxi plunges into sinkhole (https://x.com/transit_jam/status/1840203910516224306)

A Hong Kong taxi driver and his passenger managed to escape after a portion of a road collapsed, plunging their vehicle into a sinkhole.

The driver, 59, and a 47-year-old male passenger managed to get out of the car after it got stuck in the sinkhole at Lai Chi Kok Road around 12.30am (local time) on Sunday.

A video from the incident showed water gushing out of the sinkhole while the red car was getting pulled inside. While the passenger reportedly did not sustain injuries, the driver was rushed to a hospital with complaints of dizziness and weakness in the limbs.

The taxi driver, surnamed Siu, told The Standard newspaper that he was driving toward Kwun Tong district with a passenger when he noticed the road flooding.

Mr Siu said he attempted to switch from the slow to the fast lane, but had to slow to a stop because of a bus.

There was a loud bang, and suddenly the taxi tilted to the left, he recalled. The driver and the passenger exited the vehicle as the water reached their ankles, he said, adding the passenger left on another taxi.

Mr Siu said he had never encountered such an incident in his 20 years of driving.

Local authorities cordoned off the area and closed a section of the road, diverting buses and other vehicles. The five-metre-deep sinkhole and water gushing out of it flooded three traffic lanes, The Standard reported.

A 75cm-wide pipe along the road burst open, causing the sinkhole, the water supplies department in Hong Kong confirmed. “Our engineering team is carrying out clean-up work with the assistance of police,” it said on Facebook.

It said for the safety of road users, the officials have arranged a radar detection of pipelines near the sinkhole. The department “will work with the Drainage Services Department and the Highways Department for further inspection to understand the cause of the incident and the necessary scope and details for road repairs”.

The water department added that there would be no impact on the overall supply of water as only a section of the pipe had been suspended.