Pictures have emerged of a man who was “boiled alive” when he was trapped inside a car swallowed up by a sink hole of scorching water which suddenly opened on a Russian city road.
Father of three Vladimir Valyalkin, 49, was driving in a Lada with Igor Chikasov, 53, in a car park in Penza.
A shocking video shared online in Russia shows steam rising from the crater of 75C water seconds after the car plunged in.
The men who died instantly in the horror were colleagues in a furniture making business, according to local media reports.
There was no chance to rescue the pair, said witnesses.
Valyalkin had an adult daughter and two younger children aged nine and seven, said colleague Alexander Antipov.
He was a keen angler who had served in a Russian army tank unit.
A burst hot water pipe is believed to be the reason for the accident but a preliminary criminal investigation is underway.
Water company T Plus promised to pay compensation to the families of the dead men and pay the costs of their funerals.
Earlier distressing pictures showed bodies of the men being lifted by crane from the 75C water alongside wreckage of their Lada Largus car.
In Russia hot water is piped to work and residential buildings for heating during the severe winters.
The local Ministry of Emergencies said: “A car fell as a result of the ground collapsing ... Sadly people were killed.”
A journalist from Penza Vzglyad local news website reported that “another car drove over the same spot minutes before the accident.
“The driver noticed ground beginning to steam - and quickly drove off ... Then these two men came.
“They parked - and the asphalt collapsed right under them.”
Local people expressed anger on social media over the terrifying accident.
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