A Chennai sinkhole opened on Rajiv Gandhi Salai near Tidel Park during peak-hour traffic on Thursday, October 8, causing an SUV to fall into the pit and disrupting movement on the busy IT Corridor. The two occupants escaped before the vehicle toppled, while the Chennai Metro Rail Limited later acknowledged that tunnelling work in the area had caused the road to cave in.
The incident occurred around 10.50 a.m. as the SUV travelled from Adyar towards Taramani. According to the police, the driver, 27-year-old Praveen, sustained minor injuries. A 52-year-old woman was also in the vehicle. Both occupants exited after the front portion of the car began sinking, and traffic police personnel and passing motorists helped them reach safety.
Praveen said the vehicle was moving slowly towards the Tidel Park signal when its front wheel entered what initially appeared to be a small pothole. The opening widened within moments, leaving the front of the car hanging over the pit before the vehicle rolled over. The occupants escaped through the doors on the side that remained on the road.
The woman, identified in the report as IT professional Veena Krishnamurthy, said the car had moved to the right because an ambulance was travelling on the left. She said the road gave way without a visible hole or warning. According to her account, a bus passed while the car was still suspended over the opening, and the resulting vibration caused it to tilt and fall.
The affected stretch was immediately cordoned off and traffic was diverted. Vehicular movement was affected on Rajiv Gandhi Salai and adjoining roads. With assistance from Chennai Metro Rail Limited contractors, the SUV was lifted from the pit using a crane. Cement concrete was then poured into the opening as an initial measure to secure the site.
The Tamil Nadu Road Development Company and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board conducted a joint inspection, according to officials cited in the report. They found no leak in the water main at the location and said there had been no drop in pressure. The officials instead linked the disturbance in the upper soil layers to tunnelling activity below the road.
CMRL said the sinkhole had surfaced opposite the Elnet Building, near the Bhavani Tunnel Boring Machine that is tunnelling for Corridor 3 of Phase II between Thiruvanmiyur and Taramani. The location is around 30 metres from the Thiruvanmiyur shaft. CMRL said a loss of face-support pressure in the tunnel boring machine may have contributed to the cave-in and that a technical inquiry was under way.
The metro agency said necessary safety and site-protection measures were being taken. Once the concrete filling settles, a steel sheet will be placed over the site before vehicles are permitted to pass, an official said. CMRL also said the owner of the damaged vehicle would be compensated.
The cave-in is the second similar incident reported on the same road in recent years. In May 2025, a call taxi carrying five passengers fell into a pit after a section of the road gave way. The latest incident has again brought the operational risks of carrying out underground construction beneath a heavily used arterial road into immediate focus, while the technical inquiry will determine the precise cause and the measures required before normal traffic resumes.
