Watch out for that last step

Jaleh Janatpour was minding her own business Wednesday, sunning her green iguana, when all of a sudden she saw a passerby disappear into the ground almost up to his waist.

On closer inspection, the student determined that a 6-foot-deep tunnel had developed beneath the sod in the green between Placer and Humboldt halls.

While keeping an eye on the area to warn passersby, Janatpour inadvertently sunk a foot through the grass herself. “I fell in up to the back of my knee,” said Janatpour, who leaned back to keep from falling in farther. “My first thought was I don’t want to let go of the iguana.”

Linda Hafar, associate director of plant services, responded with a crew to cordon off the area. Sloping tunnels were discovered near a concrete telecommunications vault buried at the site.

Hafar said the hole did not appear to be caused by erosion; rather, the soil surrounding the underground vault seems to have settled since the construction of Placer Hall. Maintenance crews will begin backfilling and compacting the soil next week.

Neither student appeared to be injured.