A 48-year-old Indian woman fell into an eight-metre-deep sinkhole that opened on a busy road in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
She was sitting on a roadside bench in Jalan India Masjid when the ground beneath her suddenly caved in, the BBC cited local police as saying.
Videos on social media show crowds of people watching rescue workers trying to make their way into the sinkhole but there does not appear to be any sign of the woman.
The Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department said it received a distress call at 08:22 local time and dispatched 15 firemen to the scene.
Operation commander Mohd Riduan Akhbar told local media that a search and rescue operation was being conducted. He said:
The Special Tactical Operation and Rescue Team of Malaysia (STORM) and the K9 unit are at the location.
Local police chief Assistant Commissioner Sulizmie Affendy Sulaiman said that ninety personnel from various other agencies have also joined in the rescue operation. He said:
We will look at CCTV footage and take statements from witnesses to get a clearer picture of what occurred.
Sinkholes are natural depressions or holes in the Earth’s surface caused by the collapse of the ground.
Sinkholes form when the ground beneath the surface gradually dissolves, causing the surface to collapse inward.
They can pose significant risks to human life and property, as they can suddenly open up without warning, swallowing buildings, roads, and infrastructure.
One of the worst recent sinkhole disasters in terms of casualties occurred in Canada in 2010 when a family of four died after their entire house was swallowed by a gaping sinkhole near Montreal.
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