Ohio sinkhole swallows car, driver climbs out

TOLEDO: A sinkhole swallowed a car as it was traveling down a street in Toledo, Ohio, and the 60-year-old driver climbed out of the hole using a ladder supplied by rescue workers, a fire department spokesman said Thursday.

A water main break or heavy rains may have caused the sinkhole to open up under the street on Wednesday as the woman was driving down it, fire department Lieutenant Tom Kuhman said.

"She saw the car in front of her kind of almost go in but her car, being already in motion, was unable to avoid it," he said.

The hole was at least 8 feet deep "and quite large," he said.

The woman was unhurt and climbed out of the hole using a ladder, helped by a firefighter.

The Toledo Blade newspaper quoted Mayor Mike Bell as saying it would take city crews four or five days to repair the road.