Sinkhole swallows car in western Pennsylvania

[August 14, 2014]  PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - A woman was hospitalized on Tuesday after her car fell into a sinkhole that opened up in a Pittsburgh-area parking lot, officials said.

News footage showed the sinkhole in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, was about three times the width of a car and filled with water.

The sinkhole opened up in the parking lot of a tanning salon, according to an Allegheny County Police dispatcher.

The woman was backing out of a parking space when her car sank, and local media photos showed a white sedan falling into the hole rear-end first.

She escaped out of her car window before the vehicle submerged and was listed in good condition at an area hospital, according to WPXI television.

Sinkholes form when rock below the earth's surface is dissolved by groundwater, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Local media reported that a storm drain runoff pipe had collapsed during recent heavy rains.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Daley in Pittsburghm; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Sandra Maler)

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