'It’s like quicksand': 2 injured as sinkhole swallows two women and a man in Long Island front yard
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: A 71-year-old woman found herself stuck in a wide sinkhole in a Long Island front yard Thursday, January 26, as she walked out the front door on her way to work. A man and a woman also soon shared the same fate while they tried to rescue the woman. According to Suffolk County, police said they initially responded to a home just after 6 am in Huntington Station when they got a report of a woman named Luz Bedoya, stuck in a hole in the ground.
The emergency responders then arrived to find the two other individuals in the hole. A doorbell camera recorded Bedoya leaving her home and showed the moment the ground beneath her feet suddenly gave way. Homeowner Benjamin Orengo later walked out to see all three, including his wife, stuck in the hole, with mud above their knees. The video can be seen here.
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"Really scared. They were worried about going down. I tell them don’t move. It’s like quicksand right?" Orengo said, according to NBC News. The homeowner said the hole was about eight feet deep and 10 feet wide and precisely situated in the front yard of the single-family home on West 10th Street.
Orengo grabbed hold of an extension cord and a ladder, and with the help of two Suffolk County police officers, he rescued his wife and the two others. He was relieved by the way it ended, with no major tragic event taking place. "Everybody is doing okay thank God...It could have been worse," he said. All three people were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Bedoya suffered minor injuries and one of them was not hurt.
In Spanish, the 71-year-old said that she was screaming for help but it was of no use as it was too dark for anyone to answer her call. Bedoya managed to use her cell phone to call for help while in the hole. The Town of Huntington Building Inspector was called to check the property and determine what caused the hole. An investigation is currently ongoing but Huntington town inspectors think a combination of a water pipe leak and the heavy rain in the area from the night before resulted in the ground opening up.