Sinkhole swallows half of Pittsburgh city bus during rush hour

Authorities investigate after a Port Authority bus was caught in a sinkhole in downtown Pittsburgh. Photo / AP

Two cranes have arrived to remove a city bus that was left up in the air after a six-metre sinkhole opened under it during rush hour in downtown Pittsburgh.

The Port Authority of Allegheny County said the driver and a 56-year-old female passenger were aboard when the bus plunged into the hole Monday morning (local time).

The front of a city bus is up in the air after a sinkhole opened under it during rush hour in downtown Pittsburgh. Photo / AP

Officials said the passenger was treated at a hospital and released.

The agency tweeted that the bus was at a red light when the street gave way and the rear half plunged into the hole.

A car behind the bus narrowly avoided falling into the hole.

For those curious, the heaviest part of the bus is the back because that’s where the engine is located. This bus was stopped at a red light at the time this occurred. pic.twitter.com/HT3DNQxNCR

— Port Authority PGH (@PGHtransit) October 28, 2019

A photo shows the front of the bus pitched into the air, and the front wheels of a car that was behind it dangling over the sinkhole's edge.

Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said the bus is sitting on three power lines, two of them 22,000-volt lines.

He said there are also fiberoptic cables, and damage to them could affect communications in the tri-state area.

Crews work at the scene of a Port Authority bus that fell into a sinkhole along 10th Street and Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh on Monday. Photo / AP

According to Port Authority officials, the back half of the city's transit buses are the heaviest part because that's where the engines are located.