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A pair of college basketball players jumped into action after two vehicles were engulfed Tuesday when a sudden sinkhole opened up beneath them in Nebraska.
Sitting at a red light, a red SUV and a gray pickup truck were waiting to go until both fell instantly as the road collapsed.
It is unclear what led to the road collapse. (UNO Public Safety/TMX)
The driver of the pickup truck almost immediately opened his door, but the status of the driver in the SUV was not known.
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Seeing the danger, a purple car at the four-way stop pulled up onto the nearby sidewalk to assist in getting the driver of the SUV out safely. Out of the purple car came Esra Kurban and Olivia Borsutzki, members of the University of Nebraska Omaha women’s basketball team.
“I thought it was an accident, and then I saw a man next to the car and was like, ‘Oh, the cars are actually in the ground,’” Borsutzki told Digital.
(Left) University of Nebraska Omaha women’s basketball player Esra Kurban poses for photo. (Right) University of Nebraska Omaha women’s basketball player Olivia Borsutzki poses for photo. (Courtesy of Omaha Athletics)
For both players, there was no second-guessing.
“I pulled over and was like, ‘We need to help,’” Borsutzki added.
“Nobody was helping. People had their cell phones out, driving past, they didn’t do anything. I was like, ‘Esra, we gotta do something. I don’t know what we’re doing, but we gotta do something.'”
Borsutzki said the person in the SUV was “panicking,” but she grabbed him by his belt to get him out of the sinkhole.
Dust could be seen as the vehicles fell into the pavement. (UNO Public Safety/TMX)
Kurban added, “I didn’t even know a road could go down. I was shocked to see it. But fortunately, everything turned out to be fine after that.”
Neither driver was hurt, police said.
“We are grateful to them for jumping into action and quickly providing help,” Officer Sarah Martier, an Omaha police spokesperson, said in a statement of the bystanders.
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The day after, the Lady Mavericks became the only NBA, WNBA or Division I men’s or women’s team in the last 15 years to have one player with at least 40 points, another with at least 30, and another with 20 or more rebounds in the same game in their 85-74 win over Oral Roberts.
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