Sinkhole swallows sheriff deputy’s car
UNITED STATES: A deadly sinkhole in an industrial part of San Antonio swallowed two cars yesterday, killing one person and nearly trapping another who had to be rescued by passers-by.
The chasm opened in an area where the city is engaged in an ‘‘aggressive, vigorous, replacement programme’’ for ageing sewer pipes, San Antonio mayor Ivy Taylor said.
The four-metre sinkhole appeared near a connection between a pipe that was replaced a year ago and a pipe that is decades old, officials said.
The pipe was visible in photos from the scene, which showed two toppled, submerged cars in a massive hole.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as a reserve sheriff’s deputy, Dora Linda Nishihara.
Nishihara was a part-time deputy at the county courthouse, the sheriff’s office said, and officials said she was in uniform at the time of her death.
Her car was upside down, almost completely submerged and filled with gravel, dirt and other debris by the time emergency officials arrived at the scene, Fire Chief Charles Hood said.
‘‘Our thoughts and prayers are with her friends and family,’’ the sheriff’s office said on Twitter.
The fire department brought in a 100-tonne crane to help lift the vehicles out of the expanding sinkhole.
The work was made more hazardous by the edges of the sinkhole being destabilised by trains rumbling past nearby.
- Washington Post