The video of the accident has gone viral on social media. The deceased has been identified as a man in his 30s; his name is yet to be announced. A mobile phone was found inside the hole.

The motorcyclist fell into the roughly 20m deep sinkhole that appeared on Monday afternoon at an intersection in eastern Seoul.

Sinkholes are especially common during two critical seasons: spring, when frozen ground thaws, and summer, when heavy rains soak and erode underground soil. Government data shows that, since 2018, nearly 76 per cent of all sinkhole incidents occurred during these two periods alone — 371 cases in spring and 647 in summer.