Ohio sinkhole: Pamela Knox rescued by a ladder after her car was swallowed by giant hole in Toledo

Ohio driver Pamela Knox had to be rescued from her vehicle after it plunged into a 10-feet deep sinkhole that suddenly appeared in the road.

Pamela Knox didn’t appear hurt but was shaken up by the freak incident. When emergency services arrived she then had to climb out from the hole using a ladder.

The giant hole opened up in a road in Toledo, north west Ohio.

Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan says a water main break beneath the road may have caused the sinkhole on Wednesday.

Sgt. Joe Heffernan says Pamela Knox saw the vehicle in front of her start to slip into the hole but managed to drive beyond it.

However, Pamela Knox couldn’t avoid it being swallowed up by it, he said. Once rescued she was taken to a hospital as a precaution

Officials used a crane to pull the car from the hole. Repairs to the road are expected to take days.

Sink holes are caused by the dissolution of soluble bedrock and the frequency and likelihood of such changes occurring depends on a number of natural factors like the type of rock present and the weather conditions in the area.

They often occur after heavy rain and floods, or following earthquakes, and can open up suddenly without any warning.

One of the largest sinkholes in the U.S. is in rural Louisiana, a vast and growing hole which last year was recorded to be 526-feet wide.