Ian Haynes, a 62-year-old former miner from Nottinghamshire, thought his "time was over" when he plunged 30 feet down a sinkhole that opened under his BMW at a Cornwall campsite in July. He landed in a pool of water while his car teetered above him at the opening.
Holiday turned into ordeal
Haynes was staying at the Higher Trevaskis Caravan and Camping Park in Connor Downs, Cornwall, when the hole appeared below his parked car. He fell what he believed was four stories, landing in murky water, and waited nearly an hour for a 60-strong emergency team to rescue him.
The sinkhole initially was the size of a pothole under the rear wheel of his BMW but grew rapidly, expanding to the size of a vehicle within a day. Haynes told CornwallLive: "I thought, 'you're gone, mate, your time is over'. I was near the door [of the car] and I just went through the concrete."
Rescue and aftermath
Haynes spent 55 minutes clinging to the sinkhole walls before firefighters lowered a rope and safety harness to him. He said: "I knew what to do. Their job was easy. They threw me a rope down and, like a plastic nappy on a safety harness, I knew how to fasten it and they winched me back up."
He escaped with cuts and scrapes but has since developed post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He added: "I'm still suffering and at 4am I'm jumping out of bed and feeling like I'm falling down the hole again."
Emergency response
Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Officers attended Gwinear Road shortly after 6pm on 24 July to provide support to emergency services who were responding to a report of a man having fallen into a sinkhole. A number of people were cleared from the area for safety."
A Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: "Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service was called to Connor Downs, Hayle, on July 24 at around 6pm. Firefighters used line rescue equipment to rescue a casualty who was approximately 30ft down a sinkhole. The casualty was left in the care of the ambulance service."
A spokesperson for Higher Trevaskis Caravan and Camping Park said: "We would like to thank everyone involved in the rescue and also the experts involved in making the site safe for our customers which is always our number one priority. An unrecorded, historical mining feature opened up in an isolated area of the park. Our emergency safety protocols were activated instantly, and the emergency services were called which lead to the rescue of a guest."
