Girl, 11, falls in open manhole in Saratoga Springs

SARATOGA SPRINGS — An 11-year-old girl fell into an open manhole Sunday night, but fortunately suffered only minor injuries.

The girl was walking home along the side of the road about 7:20 p.m. in a dark area, when she fell into a manhole that had had it's cover removed. The drop to the bottom was about 16 feet. Officials believe she may have hit a few steps on the way down, so it wasn't a straight drop, said Lehi Fire Battalion Chief Rick Howard.

She landed right side up.

Once emergency crews were notified, a Lehi police officer climbed down the manhole to stay with the girl until she could be pulled out, Howard said.

Saratoga Springs fire crews and the technical rescue team from the Lehi Fire Department were able to get a harness around the young girl and pull her out. She was conscious and alert the entire time, he said. The girl was flown to a local hospital by medical helicopter as a precaution.

Howard speculates that a snowplow may have knocked the cement riser and the manhole cover resting on top it, completely off the hole, but didn't know for sure what happened to the cover. There was no way the young girl could have moved it by herself, he said.

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