A furious father has slammed a water company after his daughter was sent hurtling down a 6ft manhole because its ‘wafer-thin’ cover flipped as she ran across it.
Terrifying footage shows the moment Anastasia Pearce, three, ‘almost died’ as she plummeted down the hole after rushing on top of it in a communal garden in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
After dramatically disappearing into the ground, her panicking father Steven Pearce runs over ‘faster than Usain Bolt’ to drag the toddler to safety.
Moments before the horrifying ordeal, the 40-year-old can be heard telling the child to ‘not to go past the drain’ as he watches her play in the garden.
But little Anastasia fell through the ’60cm x 40cm’ gap whilst running over the cover, all whilst the ‘petrified’ former professional boxer and his other daughter Arizona, five, watched on in horror ‘thinking her sibling was dead’.
Mr Pearce says he was ‘trembling like jelly’ for fear Anastasia was seriously hurt and was initially unable to reach his daughter, before he climbed into the chasm himself to retrieve her.
Thankfully the youngster escaped the fall with just a swollen knee and a lump on her head, but her ‘horrified’ mother Dani-Leigh Pearce, 32, says the dramatic accident ‘could have broken her daughter’s neck’.
Mr Pearce blasted water firm Severn Trent for the ‘barely covered’ manhole and believed the company should have had a thicker and more secure cover in place.
Horrifying footage shows the moment Anastasia Pearce, three, ‘almost died’ as she plummeted down the hole after running across it in a communal garden in Stourbridge, West Midlands
Thankfully, Anastasia (pictured) escaped the fall with just a swollen knee and a lump on her head
He told the Sun: ‘The fall could have killed her [Anastasia].
‘Severn Trent should know better. I’ve been a builder for 24 years and that drain cover is not sufficient.
‘It should be cast iron but it’s been a galvanised little wafer thin drain which barely covers the hole.
‘That’s OK on a 2ft drop, but not a 6ft drop. That’s a really, really, bad mistake from them.’
The builder says he monitored Anastasia for concussion symptoms and last Monday his former partner Dani-Leigh took her to hospital to be checked over.
Dani-Leigh, from Halesowen, West Midlands, said: ‘I was absolutely horrified when I watched the footage back. I felt sick.
‘Luckily I think her age helped her because she was so small she just went right down the centre.
‘If it had been her sister, she would have had more chance of hitting her head.
After dramatically disappearing into the ground, her panicking father Steven Pearce runs over ‘faster than Usain Bolt ‘ to drag the toddler to safety
Mr Pearce blasted water firm Severn Trent for the ‘barely covered’ manhole and believed the company should have had a thicker and more secure cover in place
Mr Pearce (centre) says he was ‘trembling like jelly’ for fear Anastasia (left), as she fell into the hole whilst he and his eldest daughter Arizona (right) watched on
Anastasia fell through the ’60cm x 40cm’ gap whilst running over the cover
Anastasia’s swollen leg after the incident which her father believed ‘could have killed her’
Anastasia’s ‘horrified’ mother Dani-Leigh Pearce, 32, says the dramatic accident ‘could have broken her daughter’s neck’
‘She was so lucky. It could have been really nasty and from that height she could have broken her neck.
‘Thankfully Steven was looking after them and he acted really quickly so I’m just grateful that he was on the ball that day.’
Dani-Leigh reported the manhole to Severn Trent on Saturday and they sent a worker to the house the same day., Mr Pearce said.
He claims they fitted a temporary cover then returned on Friday to replace it with a permanent cast-iron cover.
A Severn Trent spokesperson said: ‘We’re very sorry to hear what has happened and we’re looking into the circumstances as a priority.
‘As the family has started an insurance claim, we’re not able to comment further at this time.’