All four people who were swallowed by a sinkhole while walking on the sidewalk in the Sichuan city of Dazhou on Sunday have been found and declared dead. The casualties include a father and son, as well as a newlywed couple.
The 23-year-old couple had just got married four days before in their home village near Dazhou. They both worked in the provincial capital of Chengdu and were preparing to take a bus back on Sunday afternoon. Before departing, they went to a grocery store to buy some wedding candy for their friends and colleagues in Chengdu. As they were walking back to the bus station, the ground suddenly gave way beneath them.
The woman was not found by rescuers until after midnight on Monday. She was later pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital. At 9:36 am that morning, her husband was found and declared dead at the scene.
It was not until 3:50 pm on Tuesday afternoon that rescuers were able to find the bodies of the two other victims — a 45-year-old man and his 11-year-old son.
The rescue operation turned out to be extremely difficult and dangerous. A video shows the moment that the sinkhole collapsed further as two firefighters were working inside, searching for the victims. The firefighters were just able to scramble up the sides of the hole in time to avoid being swallowed themselves.
An initial investigation has found that the sinkhole was caused by the collapse of a 10-meter underground culvert after several days of rainfall.
