Girl on Cellphone Falls in Sinkhole (VIDEO)
A young girl on her cell phone fell into a sinkhole in China, and the video has now gone viral. She is the latest in a number of people whose cellphone distraction has led to possible danger, a disturbing new trend among technophiles.
As the girl was walking on the sidewalk and talking on her phone, she clearly did not see the giant sinkhole in front of her. Video shows her walking one moment and not visible the next. She went off-screen when she fell into a 20-foot deep sinkhole.
Thankfully she was not hurt in the fall, and Wang Wei, a taxi driver, observed the entire ordeal and was able to help her get out of the sinkhole.
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"I called out to her but she didn't respond," Wei told The Telegraph. "After I shook her a little, she came to."
"The dirt kept showering down on us, and the kid couldn't stop crying. The ladder kept moving about; it's a little flimsy and the girl kept screaming out of fear. So I told her to go first and I'll be right behind her. Finally we managed to get out," he explained.
As technology has advanced and become more common, users have been put at greater risk for these types of accidents. Using a cell phone or iPod can cause distraction, which increases unawareness of surroundings.
CNET.com cites a 2008 British study noting that 1 in 10 people had suffered injury while texting and walking. Are these accidents the fault of the person walking? Or should there be better warning for dangerous situations?
At least one woman, Cathy Cruz Marrero, who fell into a fountain in Pennsylvania, is bringing suit against the guards in the mall where she fell while texting.
"I didn't get an apology. What I got was, 'At least nobody knows it was you.' But I knew it was me," she told Good Morning America. Marrero alleges that no one bothered to warn her she was about to fall in the fountain, and security guards did not help her afterwards.
Marrero's video has been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube.
The young girl, who has not been identified, has received at least 10,000 views through numerous postings on YouTube.
Watch the dramatic video here:
