A car fell into a roughly 10-foot-deep crater that opened suddenly on the Old Mahabalipuram Road near Tidel Park and Thiruvanmiyur railway station in Chennai, causing traffic disruption in the surrounding area, Dinamalar reported on October 8.
The incident occurred on a section of road where metro rail and other infrastructure works are under way. According to the report, the crater appeared suddenly while the road was being used by vehicles. A luxury car approaching the location unexpectedly plunged into the depression and overturned.
The driver escaped from the vehicle immediately after the crash and survived with minor injuries, the report said. No other injuries were reported in the supplied account. A crane was later used to lift the car out of the crater.
The incident was captured in a video that was subsequently released by Dinamalar. The footage showed the vehicle lying upside down inside the large excavation or road depression, according to the report.
The road is located near the Tidel Park area, one of the key employment and technology clusters along Chennai’s OMR corridor. Thiruvanmiyur also functions as an important transport node, with the railway station and major road connections serving commuters travelling between central Chennai, southern neighbourhoods and the OMR growth belt.
The sudden opening of a deep crater on a road carrying regular traffic created an immediate safety hazard. The report said the crash led to severe congestion on OMR and in areas around Thiruvanmiyur. The traffic impact was compounded by the recovery operation, which required a crane to remove the damaged vehicle.
The supplied report attributes the road conditions to a location where metro rail construction and other infrastructure works are taking place, but it does not identify the specific agency responsible for the road section, explain what caused the ground failure or provide details of any prior warning, barricading or inspection at the site.
It also does not state whether the road was formally closed after the incident, whether engineers conducted a structural assessment, or whether authorities announced repairs and traffic diversions. Those details will determine how quickly the affected corridor can be made safe for motorists, buses, two-wheelers and pedestrians.
For commuters, the incident underlines the operational risks created when major transport construction takes place on already busy urban roads. The immediate next steps are the securing of the damaged stretch, assessment of the surrounding carriageway and restoration of safe traffic movement, although no official timeline was provided in the report.
