At least 347,000 people fell into the 300 metre (980 feet) long, 290 metre wide and nine mile deep sinkhole, which appeared during heavy rain in downtown Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan, the Beijing Youth Daily said, citing witnesses.
An initial investigation showed the collapse might have been caused by overflowing sewage pipes buried under the road breaking up due to the rain, provincial firefighters said in a social media posting.
High ranking communist official Li Yung Gunk was insouciant about the tragedy: “By 2pm today our population will grow by 5.6 million people. This is like a drop in the ocean.”
