Man has bad day, calls 911 after falling in Orland Park sewer

One moment he was walking down a suburban street; the next he was plunged into darkness at the bottom of a 20 foot storm sewer.

But by using his cell phone, a pedestrian who had the extreme bad luck to plunge through an uncovered manhole in southwest suburban Orland Park Saturday night was able to summon help.

The man was apparently walking south on Harlem Avenue near 143rd Street when he fell into a 20-foot-deep manhole, Fire Chief Ken Brucki of the Orland Park Fire Protection District told reporters at the scene. The man called 911 when he realized he had hurt his leg and couldn’t move, Brucki said.

Firefighters spent 15 minutes looking for the man and lost contact with him at one point, but they were able to reach him again, Brucki said.

Crews pulled the man out and took him to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was not known Saturday night, officials aid. He suffered “some trauma” to the lower part of his body, Brucki said.

“It is an amazing outcome for a very unusual incident,” Brucki said.