Eyewitness Says Fulham Sinkhole Moment Was 'Overwhelming' Eyewitness Says Fulham Sinkhole Moment Was 'Overwhelming' Eyewitness Says Fulham Sinkhole Moment Was 'Overwhelming' Eyewitness,Romeo Bambare, recalls the moment he saw a woman fall down a hole that appeared in a pavement in Fulham, London. The ground swallowed her up: Woman 'disappears' through gaping hole in pavement as she walked along a London street A woman has been hospitalised after she fell down a hole that appeared in a pavement as she hurried along a London street during rush hour this morning. Onlookers heard a loud scream before the woman, who has not been identified, 'disappeared' down the gap in the road outside a cafe in Fulham, south west London, and landed on the rubble below. Ambulance crews were called to the Marrakech Express at about 8.50am to help get the woman, thought to be in her mid-forties, out of the eight foot deep hole and rushed her to hospital. Passers-by reported hearing a loud scream before the woman fell into the gap and early reports suggested she had been pushing a pram - although it's now thought it was a shopping trolley. Kate Sissons, who witnessed the fall, posted a picture on Instagram, saying: 'OMG! Poor woman and pram just disappeared down this hole on North End Rd. Shes stuck down there. She added: 'Loud scream and all I could see was the pram. Ambulance and fire on way to get her out. Scary. V v scary [sic].'A nearby flower stall owner, who asked not to be named, said she saw a man come running out of the cafe this morning, shortly before the drama unfolded. 'The hole had been blocked off with tables and chairs but she had squeezed through and went straight down,' she said. 'She didn't have a pram or a buggy, it was a shopping trolley. 'The shop owner was shouting out to her "Don't come through there". 'We looked over and she was down, all the way down the hole. She had walked onto it and it had collapsed beneath her.' Scotland Yard confirmed that officers attended the scene at 8.42am and that a child had not been involved. Paul Smith, 28, a builder who was walking to work when he saw what he described as a 'shocking' scene. He said: 'Someone had fallen through - just like a trapdoor. It's crazy. There is a huge hole in the floor and someone has fallen through the pavement. 'It is about a metre wide and about eight foot deep. I couldn't see inside to see if it was a man or a woman but it was a person and the police were all around.' Atila Mohammed, who runs the Marrakech Express where the hole opened up in front of in North End Road, said he first became aware of the hole shortly before the incident this morning. He said: 'A young man was passing, he came to me and said "I was walking along and the pavement has broken".' Mr Mohammed said that it was while he was checking the man was okay that woman, who was walking quite fast, approached the hole, which at this point was only quite small. 'People were outside looking around and everyone said "Stop, stop, stop" as she put her foot on the pavement. 'I said "stop, stop", but I couldn't stop her. There was only a small hole from the man before, but when the lady stepped there she broke everything and it fell. 'I tried to hold her and she fell all the way down. But she's ok now I held her til the end.' He said he lowered her down the five foot wide by two and a half foot long hole and she walked back up to the cafe via the basement and stairs and gave her a coffee while she waited for paramedics to arrive. The cafe manager claims he warned the council about the hole two years ago as he had noticed it was 'sagging'. Mr Mohammed said: 'We were shocked. We told the council nearly two years ago it looks like its sagging and they've done nothing.'

• published: 23 Apr 2015
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