Pot holes are an everyday annoyance for most drivers, but nothing could have prepared Rajiv Thairani for the massive sinkhole he found himself at the bottom of earlier this week.
Thairani, a 27-year-old San Francisco native currently attending law school at Duke University, was turning around in a fast food parking lot last Tuesday when his car suddenly sank eight feet into a sinkhole.
"I was going to use the lot to turn around so I just turned into it and my car is relatively low to the ground and the hole wasn't visible from the street," Thairani told ABCNews.com. "My initial reaction was that the ground underneath me had given way, like it had collapsed."
However, the weight of Thairani's 2001 Honda Prelude wasn't responsible for the sinkhole. The hole formed the day before and actually hobbled an 18-wheeler semi-truck. The truck was too big to fall into the hole, however, and simply required a tow for its wheels to be pulled out.
Following that incident caution tape was put up around the sinkhole, but winds quickly blew the tape away.
Thairani emerged unscathed from the incident but the Prelude – which actually belongs to his girlfriend – is likely totaled.
City officials have since closed the parking lot and are investigating if recent heavy rains are to blame for the sinkhole.Â
