Toledo Sinkhole Victim Miraculously Unharmed [Video]

Yesterday in Toledo, a sinkhole nearly claimed an the life of a 60-year-old woman before she escaped miraculously unharmed.

The Toledo sinkhole opened up while Pamela Knox was driving on North Detroit Avenue yesterday, July 3. Knox’s entire car was consumed, plummeting to the bottom of the newly opened sinkhole and trapping the woman.

Knox was headed southbound near Bancroft Street in Central Toledo when the sinkhole rapidly appeared and ate her vehicle.

She remained trapped under the road for several minutes, but passersby were able to secure a ladder, and Knox was able to climb out of the sinkhole.

It was around 12:15 p.m. when the Toledo sinkhole claimed Knox and her car, and Toledo spokesperson Jen Sorgenfrei explains that “a collapse of combined sanitary and storm sewers,” caused the 10 foot deep depression to occur.

Mayor Mike Bell was on the scene after the dramatic Toledo sinkhole rescue, and he said he was just grateful no one was hurt in the sudden hazard situation:

I’m just happy that as I understand, she walked herself out [of the hole] … We had a lot of rain lately and something must have washed out under the road.

Sergeant Heffernan, a local Toledo policeman, said Knox saw the sinkhole appear and was unable to steer away from the danger:

“She saw the car in front of her starting to go [into the hole], and it managed to drive on, but she couldn’t.”

Heffernan said the Toledo sinkhole was excavated, and Knox’s car was retrieved at around 4 PM. It’s not clear whether the vehicle was totaled in its one-story drop into the Earth.

After the Toledo sinkhole incident, Knox was briefly taken to a hospital, but was unhurt overall — simply shaken by the experience.