A sink hole at a subway construction site due to water leakage causes the urgent evacuation of residents living in a 30-story building nearby in Central China's Wuhan on August 8, 2023. Photo: from the Paper

 
Authorities in the city of Wuhan in Central China, home to more than 14 million people, confirmed that the foundation pit and surrounding buildings were safe and stable after a sink hole at a subway construction site led to the urgent evacuation of all residents living in a nearby 30-story building.

At around 18:40 on Tuesday, a water leakage incident occurred in the foundation pit on the north side of Xingye Road Station of Wuhan Metro Line 12, resulting in a sink hole forming which covered an area about 20 meters long and 10 meters wide, according to a Wuhan Metro notification issued late on Tuesday night.

Wuhan Metro said that on-site emergency action was immediately taken and the situation was brought under control after the source of the water leakage was successfully sealed within an hour.
 
Residents living in the building adjacent to the site were required to evacuate immediately. Some moved to nearby hotels, others went to homes of their relatives. According to several residents living in the evacuated building, the subway site construction began more than one year ago, and since that time, small cracks have emerged at their homes, guancha.cn reported. 

"We had reported this to the community and local authorities. The building has 30 floors, and the foundation piles should be secure, but we are not sure about the safety until inspection result comes out," one resident said.

Following the incident, local authorities including the city construction and emergency personnel dispatched to the site in Jiangan district, confirmed no casualties. According to the analysis of on-site monitoring data, the foundation pit and surrounding buildings were safe and stable.

The residential buildings and local residents are in no danger as the problem has been addressed, a Wuhan Metro representative said. 

On Wednesday the construction team has blocked off the affected section with over a dozen construction workers pouring cement into the sink hole, the Legal Daily reported.

Wuhan Metro Line 12 has 37 stations, passing through seven central urban areas in Wuhan and enabling transfers with 18 other lines. It is the second longest metro loop in the world and the longest in Asia. The construction unit responsible for the incident section is China Railway 11th Bureau Group.