WATCH: Sinkhole swallows family's parked van

In yet another incident of a sinkhole suddenly opening up on a road, a parked van was swallowed by a cenote that appeared on a street in the United States (US).   

According to local media reports, the incident occurred at a Los Angeles street where a sinkhole opened suddenly to swallow the front half of a family’s parked van.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said the vehicle was unoccupied when the sinkhole opened underneath it on a street in the city’s Crenshaw District, resulting in harm to the human lives.

The fire department said the sinkhole had been caused by a broken water main line that caused flooding on South Buckingham Road. Firefighters arriving to deal with the flooding just after 5 a.m. found the van with its front half-sunken into the road.

The road was partially closed to traffic while crews worked to shut off the water and repair the damage.

Similar incidents have occurred frequently in other parts of the globe and in one such incident, on January 14, an enormous sinkhole swallowed a bus and pedestrians in northwest China, sparking an explosion, killing six people, and leaving four more people missing.

Footage showed people at a bus stop running from the collapsing road as the vehicle — jutting into the air — sank into the ground.

Read More: Video shows sinkhole swallowing bus in China

Several people disappeared into the sinkhole as it spread, including what appeared to be a child. The incident also triggered an explosion inside the hole, video showed.

Video footage published by state broadcaster CGTN showed a person being pulled from the hole by rescue workers.