A man was left traumatised after falling into and becoming trapped in a rat-infested sinkhole for over 30 minutes when a footpath collapsed at a bus stop.
The terrifying incident happened on a busy street in the Bronx area of New York, in the US, on Saturday.
CCTV footage shows the man patiently waiting for his bus before a sinkhole appears in the pavement and swallows him up.
Stunned bystanders go to his rescue but are unable to pull him to safety as he lay trapped about 12ft below street level with a large number of rodents scurrying about nearby.
The man's brother, Greg White, said his sibling was afraid to scream for help in case rats crawled into his mouth.
Firefighters took over 30 minutes to eventually free the victim who was left deeply traumatised by the incident.
An ambulance crew took the victim to hospital where he was treated for several injuries, including to his arms leg and face.
The victim's brother told CBS News: “He was casually waiting for the bus and it (the pavement) just fell.
“Rats crawling on him. He can’t move. He just … it was so bad. He didn’t wanna yell ’cause he was afraid there was gonna be rats going inside his mouth,” Mr White said.
“When he fell, his face scraped concrete … that skin came off. His arm was bad. His leg is numb.
“It’s like one out of a million chance of that happening. I’m shocked. I was surprised but, you know, he’s breathing."
The footpath had been covering the cellar of a building in a bad state of disrepair, according to the New York City's Department of Buildings.
The authority has now launched an investigation into the safety of the building.
An evacuation order has now been issued for the five storey building and the owner has been ordered to put green safety fencing around it, according to CNN.
