Rolls-Royce owner forced to climb out of window after it plunges into sinkhole in China

A six-foot deep sinkhole in Harbin, a city in north-eastern China, swallowed a Rolls-Royce car along with its owner on Sunday (1 October). The owner, however, eventually managed to escape.

The video footage, which was posted on Chinese site Pear Video, has gone viral on the country's social media networks. It shows the ultra-luxurious Rolls-Royce Phantom stuck in a wide hole.

"I was waiting at the traffic light here and was just about to start the car as the light changed to green, when the road suddenly caved in," the owner of the car said, according to The Sun news website.

The man, whose name has not been mentioned, opened the driver's side window and managed to climb out uninjured. However, the pricey Rolls-Royce, which cost him over 5 million Chinese yuan renminbi (£567,757) after tax, was quite badly damaged.

Local authorities later helped lift his car out using a crane, but did not reveal what caused the sinkhole. The Rolls-Royce has been the only casualty so far.

This isn't the first sinkhole to grab unsuspecting motorists in China, with increased number of cars on the country's roads. According to the Asia One news website, sinkholes have become a trend in China and are often caused due to poor construction work.

Earlier this year in August, a motorcyclist rode into a sinkhole in the Chinese city of Guangxi. The man managed to escape with minor injuries, according to media reports.

CCTV footage showed the man looking at his phone just before riding head-first into the hole.