Community flips their lid over paper-thin manhole cover

Residents in Nanjing, Jiangsu province were shocked to find a paper-thin manhole cover used along a heavily trafficked street.

The local administrative committee has since replaced the lid on July 6 after it was destroyed by what city workers assume was a passing vehicle.

The cover measures as thin as 0.7 centimeters. Flowing water can be seen below.

The lid covered a three-meter deep manhole located along Xianlin Avenue, Qixia district, which is near a residential area and college campuses.

Photos show only pieces remain of the cover, which was reinforced by a thin strip of rebar. Signage was placed beside the hole to warn pedestrians.

"I can't believe there is such a scary thing around us," said a resident surnamed Chen, "We usually walk by it and thought it was safe."

A spokesman for the Xianlin administrative committee said the cover was long overdue for a replacement. It was designed to only support the weight of a pedestrian, not a vehicle.

The cover has been replaced with a "regular" one and an city officials are investigating the source of the thin manhole lid.