Update: A total of 42 people were evacuated from the apartment buildings located on 23 August Street in Slănic, which partially collapsed on Thursday morning, News.ro reported. Also as a measure of precaution, car and pedestrian traffic was stopped in the area.

Prahova county prefect Emil Drăgănescu told News.ro that the authorities are waiting for the specialists to determine the exact causes of the incident.

Initial story: A street in the town of Slănic in Prahova county, some 120 north of Bucharest, partially collapsed on Thursday morning, April 25, forming a 2-meter deep crater on an area of over 60 sqm, the authorities announced. 

Residents living nearby were evacuated while specialists checked the area.

“Considering the emergency situation in the town of Slănic in Prahova county, generated by land subsidence, followed by the formation of a crater with a depth of approximately 2 meters on an area of more than 60 square meters, […] the head of the DSU, Raed Arafat, ordered a team of DSU and IGSU personnel to be sent to the site, to be supplemented as soon as possible with construction and mining specialists,” the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU) announced.

The authorities are yet to determine the cause of the incident. According to local Prahovainfo.ro, the reasons may relate to the salt deposit on which the locality stands.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Departamentul pentru Situatii de Urgenta)