A WOMAN IN Melbourne, Australia, had to be rescued from a 9.8ft sinkhole that opened up under her while she was hanging washing in the garden.
The 45-year-old–who is believed to be the home’s cleaner–floated in water at the foot of the sinkhole for a half an hour before she attracted attention with calls for help to her neighbours.
Paramedic with the Ambulance Victoria Stephaine Palamberis told News.com.au that the woman was “hanging washing out in the backyard at about 11.30 this morning when the ground gave way”, and that she “fell with the dirt and mud, dropping about three metres and landing in waist deep water. At one stage her head was under the water”.
Country Fire Authority firefighters freed the woman from the hole with a rope, she didn’t attempt to escape herself in fear of further collapsing the mud. No injuries were reported by paramedics, despite the woman being ‘shaken up a bit’.
According to ABC, the CFA initially advised locals to stay indoors until an investigation took place, but a City of Dandenong spokeswoman has since said that it was an ‘isolated incident’ as a result of an improperly filled well that had deteriorated over the years.
