VIDEO: Car plunges into sinkhole on Chennai's OMR after road caves in near Tidel Park

A car toppled into a sinkhole after a section of Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) caved in near Tidel Park in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, on Thursday morning (October 8). The incident disrupted traffic on the busy stretch for a long period, and the two occupants escaped unhurt. The incident took place near an underground Metro construction site near Tidel Park, where the front tyres of the white car were trapped in the sinkhole.

A video has also surfaced showing an MTC bus attempting to squeeze past the car and a Metro barricade, following which the car plunged into the sinkhole and landed upside down. Following the incident, work is underway to remove the car from the site and fill the sinkhole.

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Underground Metro construction

Officials with Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) have not yet clarified whether the underground Metro construction played any role in the road cave-in. Police sources, however, pointed out that utilities running underground, including Metro Water pipelines, had already been shifted before Metro work began in the area, effectively ruling out a burst water pipeline as the cause.

According to officials, the collapse stemmed from the failure of an ageing prestressed cement concrete sewage line, 2.2 metres wide and buried roughly 3 metres beneath the road surface. A joint in the pipeline is believed to have given way, triggering soil erosion beneath the surface that eventually caused the road to cave in. The incident has once again drawn scrutiny to the condition of the OMR stretch, which has seen a string of similar cave-ins over the past few months.

The Chennai incident triggered concern among commuters and social media users, particularly those who regularly travel along the stretch in the city.