<p> A giant sinkhole appeared in the middle of a busy Japanese city today, swallowing part of a five-lane street near the main railway station.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The gaping hole, around 66 feet by 15, exposed support columns of nearby buildings at a traffic intersection in the southern city of Fukuoka, prompting fears of further collapses.<br /><br />TV footage showed two separate holes steadily expanding as they sucked in asphalt and soil in front of the city's Hakata Station.<br /><br />"It was a bit dark outside, and my first impression was, 'Is the road really falling?'" a young man who saw the sinkhole form told public broadcaster NHK.<br /><br />"When I saw it, two holes were already there, and they continued to grow bigger.<br />"I got scared the most when a traffic light fell at an intersection close to where I was standing. I felt, 'I have to get out of here,'" he told NHK.<br /><br />The hole continued to expand and by mid morning was around two storeys deep, and filling with water from broken pipes.<br /><br />Police, who had cordoned off the area and evacuated local buildings said there had been no reports of any injuries.<br /><br />Fukuoka's transport bureau said the ongoing extension to a nearby subway line could be related to the creation of the sinkhole.<br /><br />Fukuoka is the biggest city on the southernmost main Japanese island of Kyushu.<br />Its railway station is a major intersection, including for the superfast bullet trains that criss-cross the country.</p>
<p> A giant sinkhole appeared in the middle of a busy Japanese city today, swallowing part of a five-lane street near the main railway station.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The gaping hole, around 66 feet by 15, exposed support columns of nearby buildings at a traffic intersection in the southern city of Fukuoka, prompting fears of further collapses.<br /><br />TV footage showed two separate holes steadily expanding as they sucked in asphalt and soil in front of the city's Hakata Station.<br /><br />"It was a bit dark outside, and my first impression was, 'Is the road really falling?'" a young man who saw the sinkhole form told public broadcaster NHK.<br /><br />"When I saw it, two holes were already there, and they continued to grow bigger.<br />"I got scared the most when a traffic light fell at an intersection close to where I was standing. I felt, 'I have to get out of here,'" he told NHK.<br /><br />The hole continued to expand and by mid morning was around two storeys deep, and filling with water from broken pipes.<br /><br />Police, who had cordoned off the area and evacuated local buildings said there had been no reports of any injuries.<br /><br />Fukuoka's transport bureau said the ongoing extension to a nearby subway line could be related to the creation of the sinkhole.<br /><br />Fukuoka is the biggest city on the southernmost main Japanese island of Kyushu.<br />Its railway station is a major intersection, including for the superfast bullet trains that criss-cross the country.</p>