Road collapses again? What's happened?

Yet another road has collapsed in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, during the morning peak on August 25.

A bus sinks into a hole on a collapsed road in downtown Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu Province, August 25, 2016. [Photo: lzcbnews.com]

The road opened up as a bus drove over it. The right rear wheel of the vehicle sank into the hole. The incident resulted in a big traffic jam in the downtown area.

Just two days ago, two people were seriously injured when a sidewalk packed with pedestrians suddenly collapsed in downtown Lanzhou.

The hole was 10-meters-long and 3-meters-deep. Several people fell into the gap, along with two parked motorcycles. The victims had to be pulled out by passers-by and were rushed to a nearby hospital.

An investigation is continuing into the cause of the collapse. One theory is that continuous rainstorms hit northwestern China in recent days have undermined the soil underneath the roads. Repair works at both sites are now underway.