Four deadly holes caused by the subsidence of the road surface have been found on a 3m section of Truong Sa Street, which links Ward 12 and Ward 17, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City. These dangerous holes were found on Monday afternoon and the road surface around the holes has sunken slightly. An inspector from the Transport Department made a report of the holes at the witness of the representatives of the Urban Traffic Management Zone No. 1 and the HCMC Environmental Hygiene Project Management Unit. These concerned agencies have yet to come to a conclusion about what caused the dangerous subsidence, but a transport official blamed the incident on the poor quality of the road bed. Specifically, the road bed had not been built to be durable as required, the official said. The incident prompted these agencies to review construction quality related to the street, and today their technical staff will work together on the scene to identify the cause.
The same problem happened to the same street last year as two big holes were found on October 18 and 23. Last Saturday, a large deadly hole – which was more than 3 meters long 2 meters wide, and 1.5 meters deep – was also found on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia – Ham Nghi crossroads in the city’s District 1. Luckily, the hole caused no accidents to vehicles or pedestrians. According to an initial investigation, an underground water outflow from a nearby broken sewerage section undermined the underground soil structure at the site, leading to the subsidence.