Accidents
Huge sinkhole in Rome swallows two cars
The two parked cars are in the hole in the ground. photo
© Polizia Roma Capitale/dpa
Holes in the ground are always opening up in major Italian cities. Now two cars have fallen into such a hole in Rome.
Shortly after midnight it opens in a residential area Rome suddenly the earth: A huge hole in the ground has torn up the street in the southeast of the Italian capital and swallowed up two parked cars.
The hole, which is around ten meters deep and has a diameter of around ten meters, opened up early on Thursday morning around 1 a.m., as Italian media reported, citing the Roman local police. Photos and videos of the gaping crater spread on social media.
There were initially no reports of injuries. According to the emergency services’ initial findings, there were no people on the street during the incident. Local police and firefighters were on site. The police closed the street that night and secured the affected area in the Quadraro district. As can be seen from the photos, there were other cars right next to the hole and had to be removed.
Such sinkholes open up again and again in major Italian cities. At the end of February, a hole in Naples, southern Italy, swallowed several cars in a busy neighborhood. In Rome, too, the underground is not resting. In many places it is partially hollow. The reason for this is, among other things, the age of Italy’s capital, where digging and building underground took place over many years. But occasional heavy rain also ensures that the ground is literally washed out.
Report Rai News (Italian) Report Roma Today (Italian)