A sinkhole swallows an SUV in South Korea, injuring 2 people

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A sinkhole suddenly opened and swallowed an SUV in South Korea's capital on Thursday, injuring the two occupants, emergency workers said.

Photos from the scene showed a white sport utility vehicle engulfed in the 2½-meter-deep (eight-foot-deep) hole that appeared on a street in the central part of Seoul.

Emergency workers rescued the vehicle’s 82-year-old male driver and a 76-year-old female passenger. No one else was hurt in the incident, which occurred at around 11:20 a.m. (0220 GMT), according to Seoul’s Seodaemun district fire station.

The conditions of the injured victims weren’t immediately known. Traffic in the Seondaemun area continued to be restricted as of Thursday evening as workers and officials repaired the damaged road and investigated the cause of the sinkhole.

South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport told lawmakers last year that at least 879 sinkholes were reported in the country from 2019 to June 2023. Nearly half of those sinkholes were caused by damaged sewer pipes, the ministry said at the time.

Last week, a 48-year-old tourist from India disappeared in Malaysia’s capital when pavement collapsed beneath her and caused her to fall into an eight-meter-deep (26-foot-deep) sinkhole. Officials said that she may have been swept away by an underground water current.

Rescue team work on the street restoration from a sinkhole area on a street in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Seo Dae-yeon/Yonhap via AP)

South Korean firefighters check a vehicle that fell into a sinkhole on a street in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Seo Dae-yeon/Yonhap via AP)

A vehicle that fell into a sinkhole is seen on a street in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Seo Dae-yeon/Yonhap via AP)

South Korean firefighters prepare to lift a vehicle that fell into a sinkhole on a street in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (Seo Dae-yeon/Yonhap via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits that alleged the pharmacy chain submitted false payment claims with government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed.

The settlement announced on Friday resolves whistleblower lawsuits filed by the U.S Justice Department in New Mexico, Texas and Florida on behalf of three people who had worked in Walgreens’ pharmacy operation.

The pharmacy chain was accused of submitting false payment claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that were processed but never picked up.

Settlement documents say Walgreens cooperated in the investigation and has improved its electronic management system to prevent such problems from occurring again.

In a statement, Walgreens said that because of a software error, the chain inadvertently billed some government programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions that patients submitted but never picked up.

“We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government and voluntarily refunded all overpayments,” the statement by Walgreens said.

In reaching the settlement, the chain didn’t acknowledge legal liability in the cases.

FILE - A Walgreens store in Bradenton, Fla., is shown on Feb. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)