By Tim Binnall
A Long Island woman was left fearing for her life when she was swallowed by an eight-foot-deep sinkhole in her backyard. The weird incident reportedly occurred last Thursday in the community of Bohemia as Danielle Tammone was outside with her dog. "The ground just went," she recalled, "and I was in a hole." Stunned by the strange situation she found herself in, Tammone was immediately concerned that she might perish should the chasm collapse and suffocate her. Making the moment all the odder was that it happened on her birthday, causing her to muse that "this might be my death date" as well.
After her attempts to climb out of the pit proved fruitless, Tammone cried out for help, which caught the attention of two different neighbors, who raced over to her yard to see what was wrong. However, when they arrived on the scene, the duo were rather bewildered, because they could hear her screams, but saw no sign of her, since she was stuck beneath their feet. "At first, we thought she was in the shed or something," neighbor Christine Chanowsky said, "we were not looking on the ground."
Eventually the pair were able to locate Tammone by following her voice and promptly called 911 for help, which resulted in a sizeable crew of rescue personnel swarming the scene. "Firemen, cops, ambulance, special unit, EMTs," she marveled, "they were wonderful." Fortunately, she escaped the ordeal largely unscathed with only some whiplash and sore muscles. Meanwhile, somewhere along the way, rescue workers discovered the significance of the date as, upon removing her from the hole, Tammone recounted, "they all sang happy birthday to me. It was great."