London -
A woman disappeared down a 10ft hole after the pavement on a busy street caved in on Thursday.
Witnesses spoke of hearing a scream then seeing the wheels of the woman’s shopping trolley sticking out of the hole.
The woman was taken to hospital by ambulance for a check-up but is thought to have been unhurt.
The hole had opened up in a brick pavement outside a cafe in Fulham, West London, after the collapse of a cellar roof below.
Staff at the Marrakech Express cafe said they had put chairs and tables around the hole after a man earlier tripped and partially fell into it.
They said they shouted as the woman, believed to be in her forties, approached with a shopping trolley but to no avail.
Atillah Mohammed, who runs the cafe, said: “She came into the middle of the tables and fell down the hole. She had put her foot in and was in. She fell down, and I held her. I was scared to let go.”
Cafe workers went into the basement and helped the woman out before giving her a hot drink while waiting for an ambulance. Outside, the wheels of her shopping trolley stuck up from the 2ft by 5ft hole before it was removed by cafe workers.
Kate Sissons, who lives nearby, said: “I heard a scream. Then I could see these wheels sticking up.” She added that it was “miraculous” that the woman did not break any bones.
A flower stall owner said: “The hole had been blocked off with tables and chairs but she had squeezed through and went straight down. The cafe owner was shouting out to her, “Don’t come through there”. The gentleman came out of the cafe to help her.
“We were talking to the woman as she was getting up. It looked like more bricks could fall on her so we were telling her to get out.”
London Ambulance Service said the woman “was shaken but not seriously injured”.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council said it was investigating.
Daily Mail