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Japanese city street swallowed by giant sinkhole

Police cordoned off the area and evacuated nearby buildings but no injuries have been reported.

PARTS OF A busy street in a Japanese city collapsed today due to a massive sinkhole.

The 30 metre hole swallowed part of a five-lane street near the main railway station in the southern city of Fukuoka.

APTOPIX Japan Sinkhole 後藤貞行 後藤貞行

Authorities say the cause of the collapse in under investigation but it’s believed construction at a nearby subway may have triggered the sinkhole.

According to local media, construction stopped when workers saw ground water washing into the site before the road began to cave in.

Japan Sinkhole AP AP

Police cordoned off the area and evacuated nearby buildings but no injuries have been reported. Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima told Associated Press:

An accident like this is unheard of, one that should not have happened.

“We must prevent secondary accidents, and will do our utmost to restore important infrastructure.” He added that a thorough investigation will be carried out.

Japan Sinkhole AP AP

A young man who saw the sinkhole develop told public broadcaster NHK, ”It was a bit dark outside, and my first impression was, ‘Is the road really falling?’”

When I saw it, two holes were already there, and they continued to grow bigger.I got scared the most when a traffic light fell at an intersection close to where I was standing. I felt, ‘I have to get out of here’.

Japan Sinkhole AP AP

The hole is full of water from broken pipes.

Japan Sinkhole AP AP

Additional reporting by AP and AFP.

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23 Comments
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    Mute Eóghain Pádraig MacEochagáin
    Favourite Eóghain Pádraig MacEochagáin
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    Nov 8th 2016, 8:48 PM

    The police are looking into it

    189
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    Mute Peadar Ó Gréacháin
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:07 PM

    The end is nigh.

    28
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    Mute Dean Anderson
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:11 PM

    They’ll have that mess sorted and good as new in about ten days max. Theyre an incredible efficient and hard working people. fair play to them

    135
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    Mute An Observer
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    Nov 8th 2016, 8:46 PM

    Holy Fukuoka is right.

    109
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    Mute George McCarthy
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    Nov 8th 2016, 8:55 PM

    The City Engineer will sort it Irish style..turn his phone off.

    87
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    Mute Seymour business
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:03 PM

    Build a bridge and get over it

    79
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    Mute Anne Marie Dowdall
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:39 PM

    And we moan about our potholes?

    42
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    Mute Alan McCartney
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:19 PM

    Awful thing to japan…..

    32
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    Mute Art Attack Head
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:12 PM

    Holy fuk,u,ok

    28
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    Mute David O Donovan
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    Nov 8th 2016, 8:58 PM

    What a stupid place to put in a public swimming pool..

    22
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    Mute Alan Cooke
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    Nov 8th 2016, 8:56 PM

    Hope there are no traffic jams in the morning.

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    Mute mark quinlan
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    Nov 8th 2016, 10:36 PM

    Clearly it was godzilla

    11
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    Mute Dan Henry
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:26 PM

    Trump will build a wall around!!

    9
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    Mute wesley coyne
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:10 PM

    Well holy jasus

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    Mute Eoghan O'Sullivan
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    Nov 8th 2016, 8:53 PM

    iOS10.2 update needed urgently. Can’t keep up with those crazy Japanese streets

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    Mute john kinsella
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:20 PM

    Give them a few days it’ll be as good as new. Now if that happened in Ireland it would take a few years and ever increasing costs.

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    Mute Fionn Bohane
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    Nov 8th 2016, 11:40 PM

    They’d turn it into a holy landmark tourists could flock to, the ‘holy sink hole of clondalkin’

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    Mute John Kennedy
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:50 PM

    Low quality material

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    Mute Linda Hughes
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    Nov 8th 2016, 11:56 PM

    I’m sorry for laughing but look at the name of the town… It is definitely F####ka big hole

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    Mute Myk_Oval_Balls_nRyt
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    Nov 8th 2016, 10:17 PM

    “The hole is full of water from broken pipes.” Ahhh, so thats what m looking at.

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    Mute Éanna McClean
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    Nov 8th 2016, 9:34 PM

    Hopefully this is a metaphor for the #Trump campaign

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Nov 9th 2016, 5:57 PM

    Is the rain getting worse or acidic from all the pollution?

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    Mute David Carino
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    Nov 9th 2016, 12:38 AM

    Aptly named !

    1
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