Woman taken to hospital after falling down manhole

EDMONTON A woman was taken to hospital Wednesday after she fell down a manhole that had blown open in an electrical explosion — described as a “very rare occurrence” — in downtown Edmonton.

The fire department responded to a power outage and blast not far from the Alberta legislature around 7:30 a.m.

“There was an electrical vault explosion underground that blew a manhole cover off in that area,” said Maya Filipovic, a spokeswoman for Edmonton Fire Rescue Services.

“Once we got there, we discovered that there was an injured civilian down in the vault and we proceeded to do a technical rescue on her. She had fallen about 12 feet into the vault.”

It took about 20 minutes for firefighters to use a harness to pull the woman out of the narrow passageway, where she was caught in some high-voltage wires.

“She was conscious, but there were some lower body injuries,” said Filipovic.

A spokesman for Emergency Medical Services said two seniors — both women — were assessed at the site. The woman who was rescued by firefighters was transported to hospital in non-lifethreatening condition.

“One patient was only assessed and released on scene,” said Alex Campbell.

Utilities provider Epcor said they arrived around 8 a.m. to a reported power outage and found emergency responders at the site.

“What we know at this point is that there was a faulted switching cubicle — an enclosure that houses high-voltage power cables — and that released energy when it faulted and that moved the manhole lid of an adjacent enclosure,” said Mansur Bitar, director of distribution at Epcor.