A 56-year-old woman died from her injuries after falling about 10 feet into an open manhole in Manhattan late Monday night.
Donike Gocaj parked her car at around 11:20 p.m. and proceeded to fall down the open, roughly 10-foot manhole, New York City Police Department sources told the New York Daily News.
Carlton Wood, who was walking to work and saw Ms. Gocaj’s fall, told the New York Post that “the minute she stepped out of that SUV, she closed the door behind her and only took a couple steps forward and just dropped into the hole. You know, it was like in those cartoons. She just disappeared into the hole.”
Ms. Gocaj suffered injuries and cardiac arrest from steam, according to WABC-TV. She was eventually lifted out of the hole and taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The manhole belongs to energy utility Consolidated Edison.
Mr. Wood told the New York Post that the cover to the manhole was laying near the open hole, and that “there was no cones, there was no barricades, there was nothing” surrounding or otherwise blocking off the open manhole.
Officials said there was no construction going on at the time that would have required the cover to be off, according to Gothamist.
The company told WABC-TV in a statement that “we are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the public has died after falling into an open manhole. We are actively investigating how this occurred. Our thoughts are with the individual’s family, and safety remains our top priority.”
