SEOUL // Concerns about public safety standards in South Korea have been fuelled by shocking CCTV images of a young couple being swallowed up by a sinkhole that opened at their feet on a pavement in Seoul.
The footage, which has gone viral on social networking sites, shows the couple plunging through the pavement, shortly after stepping off a bus in the South Korean capital, as passers-by looked on in horror.
The incident happened near an apartment construction site last Friday — the end of the three-day Lunar New Year holiday.
Firefighters rescued the young man and woman who fell three metres. Neither of them was seriously injured and both were discharged from hospital after receiving treatment.
On Tuesday, the ministry of land, infrastructure and transport ordered a nationwide survey of construction sites and their immediate surroundings to check for dangers like sinkholes and other subsidence.
* Agence France-Presse
Watch the video below: