Pretoria - The danger posed by open manholes and drains around the city was on Monday highlighted when a woman fell into a manhole at the corner of WF Nkomo Street (Church) and Bosman.
The woman is said to have been walking and did not see the open manhole and fell inside.
She broke her leg and was in severe pain as she lay on the ground waiting for an ambulance. Bystanders said she managed to get out of the manhole but was in excruciating pain and had to lie down.
The woman could be seen crying as she anxiously waited for an ambulance to arrive. Her body was shaking as she had a puff of her cigarette with tears streaming down from underneath her sunglasses.
A man, who refused to give his name was fuming, saying he did not understand why the manhole was not covered. “It does not make sense that this thing was open. This is a busy road with people passing from all directions. There was not even a sign to show that it is open,” he said.
Martha Moeledi, who was also at the scene, shared his sentiments. She said they just heard screams and when they turned around, they saw the injured woman.
“I don’t understand why it was open in the first place. No one walks looking down, don’t the people who opened this know that people can get injured? There should at least have been a warning sign to highlight the dangers that this thing is posing,” she said.
Spokeswoman for the council, Antoinette Mostert, said the city first had to check if the manhole was for storm water drainage or for Telkom cables before it could comment on the matter.
Pretoria News