A giant sinkhole has opened in the parking lot of a hospital in Naples, Italy
ROME – A giant sinkhole opened Friday in the parking lot of a hospital in Naples, Italy, forcing the temporary closure of a nearby residence for the recovery of COVID-19 patients after the electricity had gone out.
Operations were unaffected at the Hospital of the Sea, and firefighters said it looked like no one was injured. The sinkhole consumes a few cars in the hospital’s otherwise empty visitor parking lot.
The local hospital district said the 20-meter-deep (66 feet), 2,000-square-meter (21,527-square-foot) sinkhole opened at dawn. Chief firefighter Cmdr. Ennio Aquilino told Italian television channel SkyTG 24 that the implosion could have been caused by an infiltration of underground water as a result of recent heavy rains.
News reports quoted the regional governor as saying that the COVID-19 residence would reopen within days after electricity and water supplies were restored. Both were also interrupted in the hospital, but backup systems allowed care to continue.