By Cara Sulieman
A WOMAN has been badly injured after she slipped and fell ten feet down an open manhole.
The 58-year-old was walking along a busy city centre street on Saturday evening when she tumbled down the hole.
Emergency services rushed to the scene in Edinburgh’s west end before taking her to hospital for treatment.
She is understood to have suffered a dislocated hip and knee in the fall.
Scottish Water had been carrying out sewerage work along Queensferry Road and workers were trying to locate the site of a blockage when the incident occurred.
A spokesperson for the company said: “A contractor working on behalf of Scottish Water was conducting a CCTV camera survey of the waste water network in Queensferry Road when the incident occurred.
“We are currently conducting a full investigation in co-operation with our contractors to ascertain exactly what took place.”
The City of Edinburgh Council also sent an investigator to the scene to make sure that the area has been cordoned off at the time of the accident. They found that an area of cones had been put in place around the manhole and are not investigating further.
Passers by commented that it was a miracle that the women survived after falling so far, mainly due to the amount of water that was in the area at the time.
Although shop and restaurant workers from nearby businesses were aware that something was going on, they couldn’t see past the emergency services.
Jay Morris, 32, works in Watch, a shop across the road from where the accident happened.
She said: “I was on the bus home when we drove past the manhole. There were police cars blocking off Randolph Place and an ambulance and fire engine.
“I tried to see what was going on but all I could see was a giant puddle stretching out from the corner onto the road. I assumed that someone had fallen face-down into the puddle, but wondered why the fire brigade had been called.”
A member of staff from La P’tite Folie on Randolph Place also noticed the commotion as he walked past on his way to work.
Louis was surprised to see the emergency services blocking off the road.
He said: “They were all over the road. I had to edge past to work. I heard later that a woman had fallen into the manhole.”
