A little boy was hailed as a hero on Chinese social media after he saved several victims including a baby from being swallowed by an enormous sinkhole – despite falling into the hole and getting injured himself in northwestern China.

A surveillance footage captured the moment when he pushed a baby out of danger while falling into the hole with several other passengers as the sinkhole suddenly widened on a busy road in Xining City, northwest China's Qinghai Province on Monday afternoon.

In the footage, the boy was first seen squatting by the edge of the sinkhole, trying to rescue the baby from the sinkhole. After putting the baby in a safe place, he headed back to the sinkhole and tried to save more victims. However, it was at this moment that he fell into the pit.

The collapse was followed by an explosion and heavy smoke inside the hole.

Fortunately, the boy was later rescued and sent to a local hospital. He was reportedly in a safe condition.

After the video was widely circulated on social media platforms, many netizens praised the boy's brave and heroic action of saving the baby while putting aside his own safety.

"He is such an excellent and brave boy! Thumbs up to him! And I wish other victims are safe and sound as well," commented a user @ayingying on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.

"All of them are heroes. It's so extraordinary to think about other people at such an emergent situation," said Weibo user @jingzhesangengsheng.

"The boy is so brave! And he was so lucky to fall into the cracked water supply pipeline, which prevented him from getting hurt by the flames caused by the explosion. I was so worried about him when he fell into the sinkhole. But I was happy to see he was later rescued and brought to the hospital by an ambulance," commented Weibo user @heihuadeshanzhashu.

The accident took place on Monday afternoon when a bus stopped at the station and suddenly plunged into an enormous sinkhole. Ten people died and one is still missing. The collapse has left an 80-square-meter pit on the street outside a hospital.

A rescue operation is underway. Nearly 1,000 rescuers, 30 vehicles and two excavators have been dispatched to the site. The cause of the incident remains unclear.