The two men who were in the pickup truck are home safe after
© Andrea Bellemare/CBCThe two men who were in the pickup truck are home safe after "they had to do some swimming," boss says.
The pickup truck that fell into a sinkhole on Strasburg Road in Kitchener Wednesday morning was lifted out nine hours after the incident, according to Kitchener Utilities.

Although there had been fears that fuel from the truck could leak into the city's water supply, the utility confirmed Wednesday evening that the truck's fuel lines were not punctured when it plunged into the hole. The radiator was also intact.

"So, there was no risk of contamination," said Tammer Gaber, manager of operations for the utility.

Strasburg Road between Trillium Drive and Battler Road is closed while the water main is repaired.


Water main break

Gaber said the utility received a call about a water main break on Strasburg Road at about 1:00 a.m.

"When staff came out to investigate, they were in the process of calling police to close the road and shut the valves down when the truck behind us broke through the surface of the road and it was partially submerged," he said.

Kitchener Utilities staff used a ladder from their truck to stretch out to the men to get them out of the truck.

Rescuing the truck

From about 2:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m., Gaber said his crew worked with an independent contractor to get the truck out of the sinkhole.

He said some water was allowed to continue running out of the broken water main as a precaution, in case there was gasoline or diesel fuel leaking from the vehicle.

"What we do is leave a slight, positive pressure on the pipe, just to push the water out and not allowing anything in," he said.

The truck was then pulled out of the hole. Gaber said everything was done slowly, so as to minimize damage.

Gaber added it will likely take two days to fix the sinkhole.

The roadway around the collapse remains closed.

Driver and passenger safe

The two men who were in the truck were working for landscaping company Tri Green.

Owner Russ Langford told CBC News that the men had been on their way to work when the truck became submerged in the sinkhole.

"They got wet, they kind of had do some swimming," Langford said. "The truck filled up with water immediately and they got out through the windows."
The two people in the truck were able to get out safely, according to Kitchener Utilities. pic.twitter.com/mzWxOGI7iP

— Andrea Bellemare (@andreabellemare) February 10, 2016