WUHAN, Hubei: Traffic cameras captured the terrifying moment a road violently erupted following a suspected sewer gas explosion, leaving four persons wounded in China’s Wuhan city.
The incident took place on May 20 at an intersection in Wuhan city of China’s Hubei province where a suspected methane explosion caused a road to erupt underneath workers and passers-by.
The video went viral after being shared on Chinese social media platforms which showed two workers crouched down next to an open manhole at the intersection of Kangfu and Chukang road, according to Newsweek.
In the footage, a man driving an electric bike was seen passing the pair when a column of fire suddenly shoots out of the manhole and reaches several feet above the road surface.
The hard hats of both workers were seen flying off their heads after the powerful explosion.
The asphalt beneath their feet begins to bulge and bursts open just as they turn around and large cracks appear in the grounds from which gas appears to escape.
Witnesses who hear the eruption turn and run the other way. The nearby e-bike rider has his back turned to the explosion and is unable to respond in time as the road beneath his feet violently erupts and throws him clean off his vehicle.
The rider flies headlong toward the ground as the road settles once more and blast debris falls from the sky.
Local residents told the local media that they heard a “loud explosion” at the time of the incident. One store owner said she tended to the male victim who flew off his e-bike, and who was “conscious but howling in pain.”
The Hongshan District Emergency Management Bureau said first responders reported four victims from the blast. The local government said in a statement that all four victims were in stable condition.
It was unclear whether there were any people in the sewer at the time.
The district office’s statement said the blast was not caused by a natural gas leak and the city inspectors sent by the local utility company have also ruled out the probability.
According to the local authorities, the explosion was caused by a suspected build-up of methane gas in the sewers. The two workers caught at the front of the explosion were conducting maintenance work of the underground water mains, the office said.
An investigation is ongoing into the precise cause of the ignition.
