The fear that a person or even worse, children would injure themselves because of an open manhole has become a reality for 10-year-old Nico de Witt.

Nico sustained minor injuries and is lucky to be alive after he fell down an open manhole outside his home today on Maroela Street in Greenhills. This comes after he lost his step while trying to retrieve a ball which had gone over a boundary wall.

De Witt explained “We were playing soccer when one of us kicked the ball hard. It went over our boundary wall and landed in our neighbours property. My cousins then went inside my neighbours yard while the rest of us remained outside and upon their return, my one cousin decided to throw the ball over and that’s when I tried to catch it. It was then here that I lost my step and fell inside the open manhole.”

He added “I am grateful my sister Karla, 9 witnessed the entire ordeal and rushed to get help and get met out.”

At the time, De Witt was hanging onto a steel ladder inside the manhole.

Meanwhile, De Witt’s grandmother Babs Fourie says that although she is livid over the entire incident, she is rather relieved that her grandson wasn’t seriously injured.

“I cannot tell you how fortunate we are that Nico is okay. I just couldn’t believe it when the incident occurred. I just hate the fact that the municipality knows about this because we reported it four times already however nothing has been done,” Fourie said.