Chennai road caves in, car plunges into 10-foot sinkhole near Tidel Park
The road reportedly collapsed suddenly, leaving the driver little time to react
A section of Thiruvanmiyur Road near Tidel Park in Chennai suddenly collapsed on Thursday morning, sending a car plunging into a roughly 10-foot-deep sinkhole and causing major disruption to traffic.
Visuals from the scene showed the car overturned inside the large crater after the road surface gave way without warning.
Two people — a man and a woman — were inside the vehicle when it fell into the sinkhole. Police sources said both passengers were safe following the incident.
The road reportedly collapsed suddenly, leaving the driver little time to react. The vehicle lost balance, plunged into the crater and overturned.
The collapse occurred along a stretch where metro rail construction work is underway, raising fresh concerns over road safety in an area used by a large number of motorists.
The incident also caused traffic congestion around the affected stretch as authorities and workers moved to secure the site and begin restoration work.
Metro workers have started repair and restoration operations. Traffic movement in the area remains affected as work continues.
The incident is not the first road collapse reported in the Thiruvanmiyur area. In May 2025, a similar collapse near Thiruvanmiyur Junction on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) occurred after an ageing sewage pipeline failed. A car fell into a six-foot-deep crater in that incident, injuring five people.
