A forklift operator was swallowed by an eight-foot-deep sinkhole in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Monday afternoon, forklift and all, according to NBC. Police, firefighters and EMS workers responded to the report around 12 p.m.
Danny Rodriguez, a resident of the Bronx, was operating a forklift in a warehouse at 1 Maple Street near the Maple Street Bridge when the floor gave way underneath him. The forklift helped protect him, shielding him from being crushed in the fall before he was able to extricate himself at which point he was taken to Hackensack University Hospital with minor injuries resulting from the fall, according to officials.
The warehouse stores nonperishable foods and was evacuated after the floor collapsed. The hole was described by witnesses as being approximately 40 feet by 40 feet wide. The East Rutherford Building Department and Borough Engineer responded and have determined that Units two, three, four and six are not safe for occupation pending further reports from an engineer. The Maple Street Bridge was closed during the investigation.
Nine businesses operate from the building, though police would not disclose which business the sinkhole occurred in.
Sinkholes have become a somewhat common occurrence in Florida and China, as well as in other places where there is porous limestone and acidic water in the ground.
In February, a man, Jeff Bush, was killed when a sinkhole opened up under his bedroom. Officials were unable to recover his body from the unstable ground and he was presumed dead.
"Karst terrain principally from the collapse of surface sediments into underground voids and cavities in the limestone bedrock," are the cause of sinkholes, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. "When the cavity enlarges to the point that it's ceiling can no longer support the weight of overlying sediments, the Earth collapses into the cavity."
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News report on the sinkhole
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