Ten-metre sinkhole opens up in Rome street

A gigantic sinkhole has opened up in the middle of a street in Rome, swallowing eight cars.

The cave-in, estimated to be about ten metres (32.8ft) deep, occurred on the edge of a construction site in Balduina, a residential area on the north-western fringe of the capital.

Two squads of firefighters were dispatched to the scene, where dozens of residents had to be evacuated from nearby apartment blocks.

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The cause of the landslide has yet to be determined. However, The Local reports that work had recently been carried out in the area which collapsed.

“Both the legal representative of the company responsible for the construction site and the legal representative of the land's owners are under scrutiny,” says Euronews.

Locals said that they had voiced concerns about the safety of the site several times in recent months.

“When they were drilling, everything would shake,” one resident told Il Giornale. “It was like shockwaves from an earthquake. My house was wobbling.”

Giancarlo de Caprariis, a lawyer who lives in one of the residential blocks on the verge on the construction site, said he had been in contact with the council about his safety concerns since last year after noticing signs of subsidence.

“There was no response,” he said. “It was a dangerous situation that no-one tried to solve.”

Another local said he had uploaded photos of the increasingly precarious site to Facebook. “If we could see it, how could the person in charge of the work not see it?” he said.