Road caves in near Tidel Park; call taxi with five passengers falls into it

A call taxi with five passengers falls into a pit near Tidel Park, Chennai, but all rescued safely.

A call taxi carrying five passengers fell into a deep pit that developed suddenly following a road cave in near Tidel Park on Saturday.

The incident occurred at 6.30 pm during peak hour traffic. The call-taxi driver Vignesh, 40 picked up a family consisting of Vignesh, a software company staff, his wife and two children from Sholinganallur on Saturday evening. They were proceeding towards the Central Railway Station. While they were moving near the signal, the road suddenly caved in and the car they were travelling in fell into the pit.

Traffic Police personnel who were on duty and other motorists quickly rushed to their rescue. They along with the help of Chennai Metro Rail Limited contractors pulled the passengers from the pit safely. No major injury was reported. Immediately police personnel cordoned off the road and diverted the traffic flow.

Vehicular traffic was affected on Rajiv Gandhi Salai and adjoining areas. Top officials of Chennai Metrorail Limited, Chennai Corporation, Metrowater and other departments inspected the spot.

Meanwhile, the CMRL said a sinkhole happened between Thiruvanmiyur and Taramani about 300m away from CMRL site hoarding. “We wish to inform and confirm that the above sink hole is not related to any of CMRL’s work. Suspected leakage in 2.2m dia sewer line pass that area caused the sinkhole,” said the statement from CMRL.

CMRL, in coordination with its contractors, has ensured the provision of necessary machinery for the retrieval of the car from the sinkhole.