Manhole misery

Manholes in Beijing just don’t get a good press! Before I moved here, I barely gave a thought to those plates of iron which separate us from the world beneath. However, recently I can’t help but read about horror after horror caused by the humble manhole cover, or lack thereof.  The most recent stats I can find say that in 2006, 47 people were killed in China as a direct result of stolen manhole covers and 10,000 people injured. I know, I know: China has a population of 1 billion people, what’s 47? But it’s such unnecessary suffering. 

The authorities in Beijing are constantly fighting theft of the cities’ 600,000 manhole covers. According to Wikipedia 240,000 covers were stolen from Beijing's streets in 2004. Night-time robbers crept in to remove the metal covers which could be sold for scrap at a decent price (US$2.4 dollars per manhole, back in 2004). 

You don’t have to look very hard to find chilling tales of manhole hell, such as the 4-year old boy in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, who fell down an uncovered manhole and drowned in 2008. Here’s a couple of more recent episodes:

Manhole horror story #1

In the recent terrible floods, this story caught my eye: A woman narrowly escaped death after being suddenly swept 100m down a road by floodwater, and then sucked down an open manhole. She was trapped in the giant plughole, with water gushing over her head. Eventually the poor woman was pulled free after 5 or so minutes.  

Manhole horror story #2

This is the utterly horrific story of the woman who earlier this year fell down one of Beijing’s many loose manhole covers. Unfortunately, the story does not end there. Waiting below was litres of scalding steam and boiling water from a broken heating pipe. She suffered 99% burns and died later.

Needless to say, I now step around all manholes. In Beijing though, sometimes you're trapped between a herd of determined pedestrians and a front of hooting cars, and manholes are simply unavoidable. At such times, I just have to close my eyes and hold my breath.

The internet is full of news stories saying that the Beijing authorities are clamping down on manhole cover theft, but there is very little recent information available. I read that manufacturers are working on a composite manhole cover which would do the same job, but not be valuable for scrap and so be less desirable.

Even the intact manholes can be dodgy. There's a few near my office and I see the ground around them bend and buckle as cars ride over them. Indeed, general pavement maintenance leaves something to be desired, as this poor girl found out. Many pavements, designed to bear the weight of humans only, are used as car parks and so the tarmac and paving quickly cracks and breaks. Heavy summer rain pours in and washes away the soil underneath, leaving behind a very precarious situation. 

Stay safe out there folks: if the manhole cover looks loose or wobbly and the pavement looks badly cracked, step to one side!