Gigantic sinkhole swallows road in Japanese city(Photos)

A gigantic sinkhole has opened in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka, swallowing huge sections of road near underground work to extend a subway tunnel.

A 7-to 8-meter-wide hole was first reported early Tuesday, according to Motohisa Oda, a crisis management officer from the city of Fukuoka.Nearby residents were evacuated, and five major roads cordoned off in Hakata ward in Fukuoka's business district.

The gaping hole -- which started off as two smaller ones before merging into the larger cavity -- appeared 300 meters from the JR Hakata railway station,CNN reports.

The sinkhole is now a whopping 27 meters wide, 30 meters long and 15 meters deep.

It is filled with water that seeped in from sewage pipes destroyed by collapsing sections of road.

T he sinkhole has cut power to roughly 170 households across the city of Fukuoka. Saibu, a gas supplier, is checking for any gas leaks in the area.
While authorities investigate what exactly caused the hole, a few social media users in Japan have been joking about the kind of monsters that might emerge.