Deputy Dies When Personal Car Goes Into San Antonio Sinkhole

Deputy Dies When Personal Car Goes Into San Antonio Sinkhole
A sinkhole that opened up Sunday in San Antonio. (San Antonio Fire Department via AP)
The Associated Press
12/6/2016
Updated:
12/6/2016

SAN ANTONIO—Officials say an off-duty sheriff’s deputy has died and two other people hurt when two vehicles plunged into a water-filled sinkhole in San Antonio.

Deputy Dora Linda Nishihara. (Bexar County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Deputy Dora Linda Nishihara. (Bexar County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The Bexar (bayr) County Sheriff’s Office on Monday identified the victim as 69-year-old Deputy Dora Linda Nishihara, who was a courthouse bailiff.

A crane was used to retrieve her personal car from water about 12-feet deep. Nishihara’s body was inside the vehicle.

Sheriff’s spokesman James Keith says Nishihara was not working Sunday when her vehicle went into the sinkhole. Utility officials say the sinkhole appeared after a sewer line ruptured during heavy rain earlier Sunday.

A car is taken out of a sinkhole in San Antonio, on Dec. 5, 2016. (Ron Cortes/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
A car is taken out of a sinkhole in San Antonio, on Dec. 5, 2016. (Ron Cortes/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)

Authorities say two passers-by rescued a driver after another vehicle that went into the sinkhole Sunday night. That driver and one of his rescuers were treated for minor injuries.