Gaping crater!

Huge sinkhole swallowed two cars in Rome

Two cars plunged into the pit - a third was narrowly spared.(Bild: Vigili del Fuoco)

Shortly after midnight, the earth suddenly opens up in a residential area in Rome: a huge hole in the ground has torn open the street in the south-east of the Italian capital and swallowed two parked cars.

The hole, which was around ten meters deep and around ten meters in diameter, opened up at around 1 a.m. on Thursday, according to Italian media reports citing the local police in Rome.

Rome sinkhole(Bild: Vigili del Fuoco)

Fortunately no one was injured
Photos and videos of the gaping crater went viral on social media. There were initially no reports of injuries. According to the initial findings of the emergency services, there were no people on the street during the incident. Local police and firefighters were at the scene.

During the night, the police closed the road and secured the affected area in the Quadraro district. As can be seen in photos, there were other cars parked right next to the hole and had to be removed.

Burrows are not uncommon in Italy
Such sinkholes open up again and again in major Italian cities. At the end of February, a hole in Naples in southern Italy swallowed up several cars in a busy district. In Rome, too, the ground never rests. In many places it is partially hollow.

One of the reasons for this is the age of Italy's capital, where excavation and construction work has been going on underground for many years. But occasional heavy rainfall also ensures that the subsoil is literally washed out.