New Delhi:
A bus and a car plunged into a huge crater as a portion of street in Chennai’s Anna Salai caved in on Sunday afternoon. Emergency services had to be rushed to the spot after the incident was reported. Policemen cordoned off the area and diverted the traffic as the road continued to sink.
The bus driver felt some movement as the bus came into contact with the loosened soil and he thought it was a tyre puncture. When he peeped out, he saw the road caving in. The driver asked the passengers to get down immediately. After the passengers got down, the bus started to sink. Later on, a car passing by also got trapped.
The bus and the car were later on removed from the crater using cranes.
It is believed that the road’s soil could have been loosened as tunnelling work was going on in the stretch for Metro Rail construction. The metro will be underground in this area.
Tamil Nadu finance minister D Jayakumar visited the spot and said that it was the first time such an incident occurred in Chennai although metro rail work has been going on in the city since 2009. He further said that the state govt. will take precautions to ward off such incidences in future.
