Japanese workers fix giant sinkhole in two days
The southern Japanese city of Fukuoka has fixed a gigantic sinkhole that opened up on a busy city centre street, just two days after it appeared.
See also: Ripon hole in Britain's sinkhole hotspot
See also: Watch as huge sinkhole opens up in middle of busy road
A round-the-clock repair effort meant the hole, which formed on November 8, was entirely repaired by the morning of November 10, although safety checks delayed the reopening until the following Tuesday, November 15.
Japanese media said the hole was probably caused by nearby construction on the local metro system, which had temporarily unsettled patches of ground in the area.
Despite major disruption to gas, electricity and phone lines, there were miraculously no reported injuries as a result of the chasm, which measured 30 metres long at its widest point, and 15 metres deep.
Similar giant sinkholes have previously opened in other Japanese cities including Tokyo after a catastrophic tsunami hit the north-east coast in March 2011, causing widespread devastation and countless rescue and repair efforts for trapped victims and Japan's weather-struck infrastructure networks.
