3.5m-deep hole appears on main road in Melaka, but it's not a sinkhole

A spate of incidents involving holes in the road have occurred in Malaysia in recent months, and it appears that the latest one along Melaka's Jalan Syed Abdul Aziz, on Oct. 2, is not a sinkhole.

The city's public works department has disputed the characterisation of the nearly 2m deep hole as a "sinkhole", saying that it is instead a damaged culvert section.

Taking a ride downtown

The Star reported that the hole was first encountered by a pair of motorcyclists.

A delivery driver was quoted as saying that they had spotted the hole just in time to swerve out of the way.

But both riders ended up with minor injuries from avoiding the hole, with the delivery rider being forced to swerve into a road rail and sustaining minor injuries.

A video posted on Instagram showed the 3.5m-wide hole, which was as wide as the road's leftmost lane,  with asphalt and concrete debris along its base, and rebar poking out of one side.

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A post shared by careta (@careta_malaysia)

To one side was a canal that ran under the road.

Don't call it a sinkhole

The Star labelled the hole a "sinkhole", which would make it one of several that have appeared in Malaysia over the past month.

The most notable and tragic was the 8m-deep sinkhole that appeared in Kuala Lumpur in August, swallowing an unfortunate passing tourist.

Most recently on Sep. 25, a 5m-wide sinkhole appeared outside the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Sinkholes are typically caused by underground soil erosion, and The Rakyat Post reported that residents have expressed worries, especially as Meleka sits on reclaimed land.

Social media posts about the hole claimed that it was a result of soil in the reclaimed sea embankment settling, leading to instability and ultimately causing the road to collapse.

It's been here for years

But the city's Public Works Department (JKR) has discounted the sinkhole worry, saying that there was a simpler explanation: structural failure.

The Malaysia Gazette reported JKR's director, Mohamad Salzeli Mokhtar, as saying that the hole was due to overweight vehicles regularly using the road causing the culvert that the road sat on to fail.

Jalan Syed Abdul Aziz is the main route into Melaka's city centre.

JKR has now cordoned off the road and is redirecting traffic around the hole, as well as limiting the weight of vehicles allowed to use the road.

Repairs to the road will commence after JKR requisitioned funds for the works.

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Top image via @careta_malaysia/Instagram & Melaka Explorer/Facebook