Swallowed up by shit

Man, son, neighbor swallowed by cesspool

Associated Press

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. - A 71-year-old man who went outside in the rain to pick up the Sunday newspaper plunged into a cesspool in his front yard, and his son and neighbor were sucked in when they tried to help.

The victims escaped, two with the help of firefighters, covered in raw sewage but not badly hurt.

Andrew Palladino said the soggy ground, soaked by two days of rain, gave way outside his Long Island home: "I walked across the lawn, and all of a sudden I disappeared."

He yelled to his wife for help, and she threw a rope and called their son, Dan, who lives with them. The son said the scene "was like a horror picture."

A neighbor who heard the commotion ran over to help - but the ground gave way again, swallowing him and the son. The neighbor crawled out and passers-by tried to hold onto the others until the Huntington Fire Department arrived.

Firefighters secured the ground, lassoed Palladino and his son and dragged them out.

It's not the first time a cesspool - a pit that collects waste from toilets and sinks - has swallowed someone in Huntington.

In 2001, a man practicing archery in the backyard with his two children died when his cesspool caved in and consumed him. And in 1998, a Huntington Station man was rescued after he fell 65 feet into one.

Swallowed up by the Earth

Sinkhole swallows man in middle of his home

April 24, 2006, 9:37 AM EDT

Associated Press

ALTA, CALIFORNIA -- A large sinkhole opened in the middle of a house, killing a 27-year-old man who plummeted 10 feet and was covered by the rubble, officials said Sunday.

The two-story home, built in the 1980s, might have been sitting atop a decades-old underground mine, authorities said. Recent rains possibly softened the ground under the home, in an isolated area near Lake Alta, northeast of Sacramento.

"It's unbelievable," Placer County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman
Dena Erwin said. "From the front of the house, it's absolutely normal.
Then, in the middle of the house, is this enormous hole."

The victim was on the ground floor about 9:30 p.m. Friday when the
concrete foundation near the kitchen gave way, Erwin said.

The man's wife also was in the house at the time and called 911. She
was uninjured, Erwin said.

Rescuers had trouble reaching him because the ground began to shift,
creating an unsafe situation for work crews.

Authorities declined to release the victim's identity until his body is
recovered.

Copyright (c) 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel