Sinkhole opens up on the road beneath car in China

• Wai Hsiao was driving to work in China's south-eastern city of Quanzhou
• When a giant sinkhole opened up and swallowed his car whole
• He now plans to sue authorities claiming recent road works were to blame

By Steve Hopkins for MailOnline

Published: 06:15 EST, 1 December 2014 | Updated: 08:07 EST, 1 December 2014

Wai Hsiao found himself in a hole lot of trouble after a giant sinkhole swallowed his car while he was driving to work in China.

The 37-year-old was on his way to Quanzhou, a city in south-eastern China's Fujian province, when the 20ft deep chasm appeared underneath him.

Mr Hsiao initially thought he had hit something in the road... but then his car began to sink.

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Wai Hsiao's car can be seen upside down inside the 20ft deep sinkhole that swallowed his car as he drove to work in Quanzhou, a city in south-eastern China's Fujian province

The car teeters on the edge of the hole and begins to flip on its side as the sinkhole begins to widen

The car flipped upside down after falling into the sinkhole; the car's rear wheels can be seen just below the road surface which has broken up near a drainage hole

He said: 'But then I started falling and the road just disappeared around me and I could feel the car starting to flip upside down.'

Luckily Mr Hsiao managed to scramble to safety before the sinkhole expanded and swallowed his car whole. Onlookers were so gobsmacked by the sight, they captured it on their phones rather than coming to Mr Hsiao's rescue.

He said: 'I climbed out, there were a few people taking mobile phone snaps but nobody helped, and then the whole car just vanished. It tipped into the hole and flipped onto its roof.'

Officials attach a hoist to the car's chassis and begin the process of hauling it out of the sinkhole

The largely undamaged car is hoisted out of the sinkhole giving a clear idea of just how big the hole was; Mr Hsiao plans to sue local highway officials claiming the road had been dug up and resurfaced just weeks before the incident, but they say the sinkhole was caused by heavy rain and a faulty drain

Crowds gather around as the car is removed; Mr Hsiao said no one came to his rescue after his car got stuck; when he scrambled from the hole people were busy taking pictures of the incident, he said

Mr Hsiao plans to sue local highway officials claiming the road had been dug up and resurfaced just weeks before the incident.

But a spokesman for the highway authorities said initial reports from engineers showed that the soil under the road had been washed away by heavy rain which had leaked from a faulty drain.

The spokesman said that created 'an underground stream that simply washed the subsoil away'.