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Journalism of Courage
A giant sinkhole suddenly emerged on a busy road in Seoul, South Korea, leading to the death of a motorcyclist. A video of the incident capturing the final moments of the man––identified as Park––disappearing into the giant hole is stirring up attention on social media. A car moving in front of him can be seen escaping the tragedy by a whisker.
The viral dashcam video from another car shows the moment the motorcyclist drove into the sinkhole that appeared suddenly. A car right in front of him bounced and narrowly avoided falling into the hole. The incident occurred in the Gangdong district on March 24, the BBC reported.
The Korea Times reported that a search team was deployed immediately after the incident. During the overnight search, authorities found a mobile phone, and roughly two hours later, they located the motorcycle about 30 meters from the sinkhole.
Nearly 18 hours after the biker fell into the 20-meter-wide, 20-meter-deep sinkhole, Park was found dead. Sharing the video, X user Collin Rugg wrote, “First responders reportedly had to pump out water and dig through the dirt for 18 hours to find him.”
Watch here:
The video amassed over three million views, and many social media users reacted to it. “The people in that van were beyond lucky. i don’t see how they didn’t go down too. it looked they got shoved up or something,” a user wrote. “That is absolutely terrifying. And sad,” another user commented.
“DAMN!! There’s an irrational fear I never even thought of that I can add to the list now,” a third user said.
According to the BBC, a report recently presented to the Seoul city government revealed that 223 sinkholes have occurred in the city over the past ten years. These incidents were attributed to inadequate infrastructure maintenance, aging or damaged pipes, long-term ground subsidence, and accidents related to excavation activities.
