'Someone covered soak hole': Rescued woman

Council staff have now put a clearly visible fence around the hole which is on private property.

A woman injured after she plummeted into an open soak hole in Mt Maunganui says it had been covered with a bread crate when she fell into it.

Firefighters rescued the woman, who worked in the area, from the hole in Commerce Lane on Monday morning before she was taken to Tauranga Hospital by St John Ambulance about 9.45am.

She suffered moderate injuries and was still recovering in hospital late yesterday afternoon.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said the ground did not give way underneath her.

"Someone had covered it up with a bread crate."

The hole was about 2.5m deep and was on private land behind a block of shops in Commerce Lane.

The Bay of Plenty Times was unable to contact the owner yesterday.

According to the MetService, 93.9mm of rain had fallen in Tauranga between Friday and Sunday and 44.8mm fell on Saturday alone.

Tauranga City Council's Trevor Page said the council staff put up a makeshift fence around the soak hole to ensure it was visible.

"We were called to help because they thought it was a council manhole," Page said.

He said the concrete cap covering the hole had eroded.

"It was quite badly broken," he said.

The council would be contacting the owner of the commercial property to discuss whether it could help fix the problem.

"You can't just leave it there."

St John Ambulance was called about 8.20am. Firefighters and ambulance staff had left the scene by 9.45am.

A woman who worked in the area, but did not want to be named, said the hole only became visible at the weekend. She said it could have been due to heavy rain.