Family members are protesting in China, saying authorities didn’t make a serious attempt to rescue victims of a sinkhole accident. The incident caught the attention of Chinese activist and celebrity Chen Guangcheng, who posted videos on social media to call attention to the family’s concerns.
The sinkhole opened up after a road collapsed in southern Guangzhou city on Sunday.
A truck and an electric bike fell into the hole as the road gave way.
State media said three people were trapped in the rubble.
The victims’ family members say that authorities did not come to rescue the victims. The families have made banners to protest against the lack of action by the authorities.
Two of the victims are a father and son from Hunan province.
In comments posted online on Monday, a woman who says she is the wife of one of the victims says she rushed to the scene but did not see any rescue operation.
She was asked by the authorities to wait. The sinkhole formed around 9:30 a.m. and by noon, she says she saw them begin to fill the hole with cement.
She says she begged the workers to stop, but they continued. The police then placed her under house arrest.
On Tuesday, lawyer and activist Chen Guangcheng uploaded multiple videos of the family members holding banners.
Guangzhou Metro authority said the accident was caused by the construction of a subway line.
Metro officials said that the search and rescue mission had been hindered by the size of the sinkhole expanding. They said that they started filling the area up with concrete to build a platform to help with the search and rescue mission.
There has been no report on whether the missing people or their vehicles were found prior to the cement being poured.
