On September 3, a sinkhole opened up on a downtown Cairo street, swallowing the car pictured here. According to the description accompanying the video uploaded to YouTube by TheDailyNewsEgypt, the sinkhole was related to tunneling activities for the Cairo Metro line that is currently under construction. Click through for the video. […]

The City of Vancouver is suing a developer, excavation contractor and their consulting engineer for the costs of repairs, overtime for city employees and lost revenue from parking meters etc stemming from an apparent failure of a shoring system that formed a 30-meter sinkhole. No mention of the developer’s name or the engineer, but the contractor was Matcon Excavation and Shoring. The site will be the future home of high-rise condominiums…if the City lifts it’s stop work order.

The failure of the shoring caused a break inf a 20-cm water main ultimately flooding the site. It also necessitated the closure of the adjacent street. Of course this invites the whole chicken or the egg scenario. The defendants will probably argue that the water line failed first causing the failure of the shoring, but of course the City Engineer, Tom Timm was not shy about fingering the shoring as being deficient.

"It’s some kind of a failure of the shoring system . . . either a design issue or the way it was put in place."

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This is a horrible and tragic story.  A sinkhole opened overnight on Thursday of last week underneath the bedroom of 36 year-old Jeff Bush in Hillsborough County, Florida. The man was swallowed by the sinkhole, […]