Pensioner Falls Down Manhole, Cries Ignored

A 65-year-old pensioner in the UK was left stuck down a manhole at a busy car-park after as many as thirty passers-by ignored his cries for help.

The man, Clive Collins, stepped on a loose manhole cover as he tried to open his car boot and the cover flipped around, sending him into the five feet deep manhole.

He was knocked unconscious by the fall, slowly coming round to discover he'd fallen in a rather uncomfortable position of ankle-over-chin, and was stuck in the hole with only a leg, an arm, and his head and shoulders sticking out of it.

He was stuck there for 45 minutes, while shoppers using the car park walked past him. "I was shouting and people were walking by, looking straight ahead", he said in an interview after he was finally rescued.

"I think it was fear, they just didn't want to make eye contact. They didn't want to get involved. One woman parked next to me and put the hood up on her car. I said, 'can you call an ambulance or something?' and she completely ignored me".

"I waved at a man and he just waved back and drove on. It's quite frightening to thing that people took that attitude".

He eventually managed to reach his mobile phone to call an ambulance, and was taken to the local hospital, where he was given 47 stitches and treated for a groin strain.

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