14 DAY TRIAL // A golfer was swallowed on the course as a sinkhole opened up under him, near Waterloo, Illinois. 43-year-old Mark Mihal has since been saved, but did dislocate his shoulder in the fall.
The Missouri man, whose wife is a cancer survivor, was playing with three friends at the Annbriar Golf Course when he noticed a dent in the ground and went to check it out.
While the area appeared stable at first, he soon collapsed in a hole and started having a panic attack, as he is claustrophobic.
His wife Lori recalls club staff providing a 12-foot (3.65-m) ladder, but he was not able to climb up to reach it because of the condition of his shoulder and the amount of pain he was in. The opening has been described as 15 feet (4.6 m) deep and 10 feet (3 m) wide.
“There was some room in there, it was sort of like a room or a cave. It wasn't confining. It was very dark, though after a while my eyes got used to it. But I couldn't look up because there was stuff still falling.
“I felt quite stable on the mud, but when I looked around me there were some cracks where there was just blackness so I think (the hole) was just going to keep going.
“I knew the only way to get out was straight up and I didn't have the use of my left arm,” he tells the Daily Mail.
Friend Ed Magaletta was able to get him out by climbing down and tying a rope around him, then helping him get lifted up by his other companions.
“Mike had his back to Mark and when he turned to say something to him, Mark was gone,” wife Lori details.
“If you're playing by yourself and waiting for someone to find you you'd be waiting a long time,” Mihal says.