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Two boys plunge into 30-foot hole

Posted at 7:27 PM, Mar 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-21 08:56:15-04

It was a scary moment in Baltimore County after two 11-year-old boys playing outside fell into a pit.

"I see a kid come up to me all bloody and his head was busted open," said Mike Gartside.

It happened around 6:30 p.m. Sunday in Rosedale.

"Me and my sister was in the house, and he came in, and he was crying, and all his clothes were muddy and everything, he seemed like he was in pain," said Cameron Minter.

His little brother, Makai, managed to climb out, but his friend was still underground in the deep hole.

"I go to look down in it and I hear somebody screaming up to me help, so then I realized there was somebody down in there, jumped on the phone, called 911, told them to get as many people out here as possible to save this kid," Gartside said.

When crews got to the scene, the boy was stuck about 30-feet down in the ground.  It took nearly 45-minutes to get him out.

"The child was rescued by lowering a rope system down into the hole, with a rescuer placing a harness around the child, and then lifting the child and rescuer both up out of the hole," Lt. Tim Rostkowksi with the Baltimore County Fire Department said.

 

Officials say the pit may have been an old well that was covered with landscaping material, dirt and mulch.  It's unclear if the hole was completely filled, or if there was an open cavity underground.

"The children went outside and started jumping on it, and that's when the soft spot in the ground caved in,” said Rostkowski.

Makai’s mother tells ABC2 News the boys walked over the spot after leaving the McDonalds on Kenwood Avenue.  They told her the ground felt bouncy, and when they jumped, they plunged into the hole.   

"It was just a disaster waiting to happen, if you ask me," said Gartside.

"Putting mulch over a hole is not covering the hole, my brother coulda died, like you're not understanding, my brother coulda lost his life," Minter said.

Both boys were taken to Johns Hopkins.  Makai fell and hit his head when he was trying to climb out of the hole, his family says he needed three staples in his head for that gash, four stitches in his finger, two stitches in his arm, and the rest of his body is covered with cuts and bruises.

County officials tell us the hole is on McDonalds’ property, and they plan to completely fill it in this week.