China Files: Woman falls into sinkhole on sidewalk (video)

As sidewalk calamities go, falling into a suddenly-opening sinkhole must top the list or at least come a close second to being crushed by a falling piano.

For an idea of how shocking the former street-side scenario is, check out this clip from the city of Lanzhou in Gansu province, northwest China.

It shows the unfortunate timing of one unsuspecting female pedestrian walking near a bus stop when a gaping hole in the pavement opens up beneath her feet.

The CCTV footage captures the moment the sidewalk collapses, sending the woman falling into the blackness and hitting her head on the sidewalk as she disappears.

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Seeming to add insult to injury, a large group of bus passengers see the woman vanish into the ground, but most don’t appear too eager to go and help.

According to mainland broadcaster Phoenix TV, the woman in the clip fractured her ribs, and was taken to hospital where authorities reported that her life was not in danger.

According to Hong Kong news website Stand News, some mainland outlets reported that a few pedestrians did stop to help the woman.

The outlet reported that one cyclist lent the woman his helmet to wear as she waited for rescue workers.

We’ll call him the sinkhole good Samaritan.

It is not clear from reports what caused the sidewalk to collapse, but some mainland netizens have dubbed the sidewalk an example of a “tofu-dreg project”, a saying used in the mainland to describe poorly-constructed buildings, like this wedding banquet hall for instance where the bride literally brought the house down during the bouquet toss.

Not good.