On the afternoon of June 4th, around 3 p.m., a sudden road collapse occurred at the intersection of Guangming Street and Shuichang Road in Handan City, Hebei Province, causing two small cars to fall in and resulting in injuries to three people. According to local netizens, the section of the road had been repaired and renovated less than 2 years ago.
A viral video online shows the road collapse, with a white SUV driving into the sinkhole followed by a grey small sedan falling into it and landing on top of the white SUV. At least 4 people were seen climbing out of the sinkhole from the two vehicles. Subsequently, the traffic police arrived at the scene and cordoned off the collapsed area with barriers.
In response to the incident, the local Municipal Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau announced that on June 4th around 3 p.m., there was a road collapse at the intersection of Guangming Street and Shuichang Road, causing two small cars to be trapped. The 3 people inside the cars were sent to the hospital for treatment, and their injuries were minor. The initial assessment attributed the road collapse to water leakage from underground pipelines eroding the roadbed.
According to local netizens, the road section had been repaired and renovated less than 2 years ago. The “Sanxiang Metropolitan News” reported that in a public statement on October 20, 2023, the Handan City government website mentioned the renovation of the section from Yucailu to Fengchenglu on Guangming Street.
The renovation project spanned a total length of 640.3 meters and included the construction of asphalt concrete roads, laying of rainwater and sewage pipelines, embedding of communication pipelines, installation of water supply pipelines, electronic monitoring pipelines, street lighting, and beautification of roadside trees.
Netizens commented, “It’s fortunate it wasn’t a truck, otherwise the truck driver would be blamed again.” “Sigh, there is really nothing we can do.” “Shoddy construction project.” “The construction party must be laughing, they have work for another six months now.” “There must be a thorough investigation, who pocketed the money intended for repairing this road.”