[ad_1]
According to state media, the chasm opened around 14:30. Sunday local time in Dazhou, Sichuan Province. A dramatic video of the scene showed people suddenly diving across the sidewalk as it collapsed under them.
Two victims died after being removed from the pit and transported to the hospital, the media said. They were married a few days ago.
Efforts to help other victims, a father and his young son, were unsuccessful. The two people were found dead Tuesday afternoon.
Rescuers thought the last two had been trapped about 10 meters underground, about two meters further than the equipment of the local rescuers could reach.
"The biggest difficulty is that the surface of the road is thick and covered with a large amount of soil," said Gao Mingyue, a fire officer, at CCTV, earlier during the search.
"We had to move the excavators to a lower location and now we have two large excavators digging so that we can stand on a lower position and use the long arm excavator to dig deeper."
More than 40 firefighters participated in the rescue operations, but the search was halted after the discovery of the bodies. The government has still not revealed what caused the sudden onset of the deadly pit.
The sinkholes usually form when acidic rainwater dissolves limestone or similar rocks under the ground, leaving a large void that collapses if it is no longer able to support the weight of what is above – whether it's a field, a road or a house.
The collapse area was more than 10 square meters (107 square feet), said the broadcaster.
"When we arrived, the area of collapse was not large and covered only two meters in length and depth, but during the rescue process, it collapsed again, causing another two-meter well The firefighters immediately evacuated during the rescue work, "said Gao.
The presence of high voltage electrical cables and water pipes made rescue work particularly difficult.
"Given what we found in the hole, the cables are crossed in a mess, including two high-voltage lines, weak wires and pipelines," Gao added.
