Mother helps Alexa Longueira display injuries she suffered when she fell into unattended manhole on Victory Boulevard in Travis.

A Travis teen trying to walk and text-message at the same time fell into an open sewer manhole — and red-faced city officials are now investigating why the manhole was left uncovered and untended.

Alexa Longueira, 15, was walking on Victory Boulevard with a friend at about 5 p.m. yesterday, preparing to send a text, when she felt the ground give way.

“She literally just handed me the phone and I opened it [and] I felt this big drop,” the Susan E. Wagner High School sophomore said.

“It was four or five feet, it was very painful. I kind of crawled out and the DEP guys came running and helped me. … They were just, like, ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry!’”

Alexa suffered scrapes on her arms and back as she slid into the sewer, which had some muck at the bottom. Her mother, Kim Longueira, said workers told her they left the open manhole unattended for only a second as they went to fetch some cones from the truck, and the agency said it has launched a full investigation into what happened.

“We regret that this happened and wish the young woman a speedy recovery,” Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla said in a statement. She added that crews were flushing a high-pressure sewer line at the time.

Department supervisors waited with Mrs. Longueira at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, last night as Alexa was checked out. The mother said doctors were concerned about possible spine damage suffered in the fall and want a follow-up MRI.

Sewer line workers are supposed to cut off pedestrian access to work sites or at least mark them with warning signs. The sidewalk where the accident occurred is the only sidewalk on that stretch of Victory Boulevard, the other being a wooded area.

The family said it intends to file a lawsuit.

Whether Alexa was sending a text or not shouldn’t make any difference, Mrs. Longueira said, because workers never should have left the manhole unattended. And while she’s thankful the sewer wasn’t full at the time, that didn’t make it any less gross.

“Oh my God, it was putrid,” she said. “One of her sneakers is still down there.”

Techplore Says:- Don’t use your phone to text someone when you are in a manhole prone area!!!

Source:- Slive.com