Pune: Sinkhole Swallows up Truck on Post Office Premises

A sinkhole opened at the City Post Office in Pune, causing a truck from the civic sanitation department and a motorbike to fall in. It took four hours and two cranes to retrieve the vehicles. Officials believe that an old well may be underneath the surface, given the building's age of over 100 years.

Pune: A truck of the civic sanitation department and a motorbike fell in after a sinkhole opened on the premises of the City Post Office here on Friday afternoon. It took two big cranes four hours to pull out the two vehicles.

It is being surmised that there was an old well underneath the paved surface, a senior official said. The incident took place around 4 pm in the parking area outside the City Post Office off Laxmi Road in the densely-populated Budhwar Peth locality.

Videos showed the truck sliding into the pit rear-side first as the surface, paved with interlocking cement blocks, caved in. A motorbike parked nearby also fell into the pit. The driver of the jetting machine truck -- used to clean drainage lines -- escaped unhurt, said a fire brigade official.

Municipal commissioner Rajendra Bhosale said since the post office building is over 100 years old, and considering the circular shape of the pit, it appears that there was a well-like structure underneath.

Though Pune Metro work is underway in the vicinity, officials of Maha Metro said it had nothing to do with the sinkhole as work is being carried out more than 65 feet below rock strata.