A 69-year-old woman had to be winched to safety after she was literally “swallowed” by a badly covered manhole to the sewers.
Maria de Conceição Ferreira was on her habitual route to the local market in her neighbourhood of Braga, reports Jornal de Notícias, when she inadvertently stepped on a piece of plastic that was masking an untapped manhole. The plastic proved a sorry substitute for any form of protective covering and the elderly lady disappeared from sight.
“It was a huge shock!” said fellow market-shopper Fátima Oliveiras. “We just heard the lady shriek and when we looked, she was already down the hole.”
Firemen carefully recovered the woman from a depth of three metres and she was later discharged from Braga Hospital, well enough to return home.
No comment was made in the story as to what sort of disciplinary action may be taken against roadworkers.
