Massive sinkhole swallows Shanghai road near metro site, viral CCTV captures terrifying moment

The incident has highlighted Shanghai’s ongoing land subsidence challenges. Built on soft alluvial soil, the city faces added risks from heavy groundwater extraction, fragile sand layers, and underground cavities formed during rapid urban development.

Watch the viral video:

🚨 Security footage from #Shanghai shows a busy stretch of road suddenly collapsing, creating a huge sinkhole and swallowing parts of nearby structures within seconds

The city is prone to subsidence due to soft soil, groundwater extraction and intense construction. Data from… pic.twitter.com/zNnhHtpL1N

— Nabila Jamal (@nabilajamal_) February 12, 2026

As the footage circulated online, social media users were quick to react.

One person wrote, “Infrastructure without sustainability leads to consequences.” Another commented, “Bengaluru and other cities may one day see the same effect due to greedy construction and ground water extraction.” A third user simply remarked, “China will always amaze us.”

This is not the first such incident in the region. In January 2024, a separate road collapse in Shanghai’s Minhang District saw a 10-metre stretch give way due to a sewage pipe failure. No injuries were reported.

Figures from 2017 to 2023 indicate that nearly 72 per cent of sinkholes reported across China were connected to human activities, including construction flaws and ageing infrastructure. At the same time, the country’s geology adds to the risk.

Large parts of China lie on karst terrain, where rocks like limestone and dolomite slowly dissolve when exposed to groundwater. Over time, this natural process creates underground caverns that can suddenly collapse.

Periods of intense rainfall further worsen the situation by seeping into existing cracks, expanding them and weakening the ground above, sometimes with little warning.