According to state media, two of those who fell in after the sinkhole opened up around 2:30 p.m. local time Sunday in Dazhou, Sichuan province, died after being pulled from the pit and rushed to hospital.
They were reportedly married only days before, walking together when the pavement beneath them collapsed.
Two others are still missing, with rescuers straining to access them deep within the hole.
Local media identified them as a father and his 11-year-old son. They are believed to be trapped around 10 meters (32 feet) underground, some two meters further than local rescuers' equipment can currently reach.
"The biggest difficulty is that the road surface is thick with a large amount of soil," Gao Mingyue, a fire service official, told CCTV.
"We had to move excavators to a lower place and we now have two large excavators digging out soils so that we can stand on a lower place and use the long arm excavator to dig deeper."
The cave-in area is over 10 square meters (107 sq ft), the broadcaster said. More than 40 firefighters are currently involved in the rescue effort.
"When we arrived, the caved-in area was not big, which only covered two meters both in length and depth. But during the rescue process, it collapsed again, causing another two-meter sink. Firefighters at once evacuated while doing the rescue work," Gao said.
The presence of high-voltage power cables and water pipes has made the rescue work especially difficult.
"Given what we found in the hole, cables are crossed in a mess, including two high-tension lines, weak electric wires and gas pipelines. It makes the rescue more difficult. Firefighters are doing the rescue work in risk of collapse any time. So we have to rescue the trapped, staying alerted to ensure us safety while digging the caved hole by machines and hands," Gao added.
The cause of the cave-in is currently unclear.
Sinkholes typically form when acidic rainwater dissolves limestone or similar rock beneath the soil, leaving a large void that collapses when it's no longer able to support the weight of what's above -- whether that be an open field, a road or a house.
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