Absolute nightmare scenario for this young lady on a night out last weekend after she stepped into a 10ft sinkhole she mistook for a puddle and ended up nearly drowning in sewage.

Laura Gerber fell into the hole while getting out of a car in Watford, Hertfordshire, at 2.30am last Sunday. Laura spoke to the Watford Observer about her experience:

I stepped backwards to let someone else out of the car and dropped straight into a sinkhole. I hit my back on the way down and massively injured myself.

After gasping for breath under the water and somewhat managing to keep myself afloat, I managed to gain strength and pull myself up. All that I was thinking in those moments was that this is the end.

Blimey. Laura said that she’s thankful that she was the one to fall through the hole rather than someone who had less strength than her:

This could’ve been a child, a car, the elderly, literally anyone.

If I have hit my head instead of my back and lost consciousness I would’ve gone under and due to the current below I would’ve gotten completely lost and never been found again.

Sounds like we almost had another Nicola Bulley situation on our hands, but instead of the River Wye it was a 10ft sink hole in Watford. Laura’s boyfriend Jason Topping witnessed the whole thing:

Her whole head went under and she swallowed sewage water.

It’s not nice to say but luckily she hit her back so her arms went out and she stopped herself.

If she didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have a girlfriend here today. As she put her hands to the side and managed to claw on and, in a miracle, climbed out.

Laura was rushed to Watford General Hospital where doctors grew concerned she had leptospirosis, also called Weil’s disease, which is spread through animal urine. On Monday, she was still vomiting and could not stomach food, and was still in hospital as of Wednesday, so hopefully she’s feeling better today.

Shocking by Watford Countil, though. I mean, what in the name of Health & Safety is this:

Let’s hope they get that sorted ASAP. As for ‘massively injuring herself’, maybe it’s worse than it looks on the surface:

Get well soon, Laura!

For the terrifying first-person video of a skier plunging into a crevasse and being buried in snow, click HERE. Actually scary.