Car with family inside is swallowed up by sinkhole filled with boiling water
This is the terrifying moment a car with two children inside fell into a sinkhole filled with boiling hot water in Russia.
Footage shows the white SUV being swallowed up as the ground opens up beneath them in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday.
The sinkhole was formed after a pipe ruptured and caused the ground to collapse inwards – filling the area with scalding water.
The driver and his 10-year-old son suffered burns, while the other child was reportedly unharmed.
Two members of the emergency services who rushed to the family’s rescue were also hospitalised with burns.
One suffered burns across more than 30% of his body, local media said.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: ‘Both rescuers were sent to hospital with burns to their lower extremities.’
A total of 31 emergency personnel and 11 units of special equipment were needed to handle the clean-up operation.
The Prosecutors’ Office of St Petersburg said: ‘We organised an inspection into the fact of a pipeline rupture at house 4 on Drovyanaya Street, operated by St. Petersburg Heating Network JSC.
‘Currently, measures are being taken to clear up the site of the accident, while the causes of the breakthrough are being investigated.
‘Employees of the prosecutor’s office of the Admiralteisky district left for the place to coordinate the actions of emergency services and control over the elimination of the consequences of the incident.’
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