A local homeless man spent nearly a full week trapped in a manhole before finally being rescued Monday morning.
It happened under the beltway near the Southwest Freeway.
The firefighter who went down into the hole to rescue the man says he was all smiles when he was pulled to safety.
Construction workers captured a picture of the 40-year-old man trapped in the manhole when they found him.
Rescuers say despite what he’d been through, his spirits were high.
“He was in good mental health for the amount of time he said he was down there. He was laughing and joking,” said Jason Abeldano with the Houston Fire Department.
Abeldano was lowered into the hole to help bring the victim to safety.
He said the victim seemed thin and injured his ankle when he fell into the hole.
“That was his main complaint. He said, ‘What am I going to do with my leg on the way up?’ And I was like, ‘You are just going to have to hold it until you get up. It’s only going to take a few seconds,” said Abeldano.
The man said he’d been trapped for six nights.
Construction workers heard his cries for help overnight and called 911.
The City of Houston sent a crew out to look at the now barricaded hole.
Firefighters are just happy this rescue ended with a smile.
“He was just saying, ‘Thank you, thank you.’ That’s all I could hear from you know, standing on the bottom looking up top,” said Abeldano.
All we know about the victim is that he is a local homeless man.
His injuries are not severe.
The hole is about 10 feet deep.
Officials say it will be covered properly by the end of the day.
