Teen sucked into 7-foot-deep sinkhole on walk home from school

By Izzy Hawksworth and Zach Harrison

A teenager has told of his horror after he suddenly fell into a seven-foot-deep sinkhole while walking back from school.

Sam Foulkes, 15, was shocked when the ground swallowed him up, leaving him knee-deep in water.

He was rescued by a passerby, who had to lay on the ground to lift him out, and was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with soft tissue damage in his arm.

Sam said: "My arms are extremely sore and I have a couple of cuts and bruises on my legs and chin and hand as well.

"I still feel shook up from it, I don't really remember much of it."

Sam's mother Andrea Foulkes, 54, says the schoolboy was "very dazed" after the incident, which happened on Kearsley Road in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

She added that his school shoes and uniform, which he was wearing at the time, have been ruined by the incident.

She said: "The sinkhole, from what we have been told, was about seven feet deep. A gentleman who was passing saw Sam disappear.

"He slammed the anchors on, legged it across the road and had to lie on the floor and get down and try and assist him out of the hole.

"He was very dazed and trying to get to his feet. His school shoes were wrecked, and his uniform was ripped.

"Apparently when the gentleman helped him out, he said he was more concerned about his school bag."

Sam's dad Stuart Foulkes, 50, now wants Bolton Council to investigate why this happened - instead of them just repairing the hole.

He said: "It is not just a question of repairing the hole and filling it in, you need to do investigations because it is not the first time this has happened."

Bolton Council has been contacted for a comment.