A four-year-old girl 'disappeared' into a manhole while walking to school with her mum.
Saffron Walker was walking little Evelyn to class in Burghfield, Berks, when the terrifying mishap occurred.
She was trying to sort out her daughter’s coat and schoolbag when Evelyn vanished out of sight.
The beautician, from Burghfield, had parked by her sister’s home so she could walk around the corner to Mrs Bland’s Infant School.
She said: “My daughter went to knock on my sister’s door, and I was like, ‘no, come back to the car, I need to get your coat and your schoolbag ready.’
“She came back to the car, stood on the corner of the drain, and she’s just gone.
“I looked up, and I couldn’t see her.”
Evelyn had tumbled into a six-foot manhole but was clinging on to the lid.
Her foot had become jammed in the drain but the shaken and terrified mum was able to retrieve her.
She said: “She’s cut her knee open.
“She must have bruises coming out on her back, her arms, her hands.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t got any bruising on her face, because her little face was pressed up against the drain lid.”
Saffron has demanded answers from the council, because of she thinks her daughter was lucky to escape serious injury.
She said: “I am fuming.
“I just keep replaying Evelyn’s little face in my head.
"It was horrible how she was looking at me, clinging on for dear life.”
Saffron’s mother Debbie said the manhole had been left exposed during recent works.
She said: “Somebody’s got to take responsibility for this, it’s disgusting.
“A job like this, you’d have to go health and safety to the extreme.
“We could’ve lost a life.”
A West Berkshire council spokesperson said: "The council made the area around the manhole safe as soon as they were made aware of the incident.
"It is currently unclear how the damage to the manhole cover occurred, however, we have instructed our contractor to barrier the area off until we are able to make a full repair."
