Truck crashes through downtown Toronto sink hole

Saturday, September 9, 2006 

A garbage truck in downtown Toronto crashed in a sink hole next to a construction site. The truck sank beneath a roadway Friday morning after the pavement gave way into a large sink hole.

The driver is safe, suffering only from a sudden fright. The truck went down so quickly that the driver was forced to jump out about seven feet as the rear end of his vehicle crashed through at an angle.

"He was very frightened, he was distressed, definitely," said a police officer at the scene shortly after the accident. "He said it sank quite rapidly in the beginning and it is actually continuing to sink."

Engineers had to wait more than 12-hours to give approval to tow the truck out. "From what we can tell there isn't a water main at this location," city engineer Maurizio Barbon said.

Engineers described a hole similar in size to a small backyard swimming pool.

It will take a few more days to find out what caused the sink hole.

Sources

• Brett Clarkson. "That sinking feeling" — Toronto Sun, September 9, 2006

• Austin Delaney. "Engineers looking for cause of street sink hole" — CTV, September 8, 2006

• Allison Barnes. "Massive sinkhole sinks garbage trunk" — 680 News, September 8, 2006