The fire department has warned the public to be cautious about hazardous manholes in small communities on Wednesday, after a man fell through one and had to be rescued in Alambra.

Fire service spokesman Andreas Kettis told the CyBC the problem was “fairly common”. He urged caution and encouraged members of the public to report degraded manhole covers to the community leader or the municipal council, to prevent such incidents.

In a post on X, Kettis had said the man had been rescued shortly before 10am on Tuesday morning after falling into a pit four meters deep.

A manhole cover in the yard of the man’s house gave way and he became trapped in a shaft of small diameter, necessitating the use of a rescue harness to haul him out.

He was taken by ambulance to the Nicosia general hospital A&E as a precaution