Two Nebraska-Omaha women’s basketball players praised for actions during sinkhole

Two University of Nebraska-Omaha women’s basketball players are being praised for springing into action after a sinkhole opened in the middle of traffic on Tuesday. Once Olivia Borsutzki and Esra Kurban realized two cars had been swallowed by the concrete while waiting at a red light, they left their respective vehicles to help those trapped.

“I was still in the car and I saw a man in a hole,” Borsutzki told On3. “I was like, ‘I need to help.’ Nobody was helping.” 

When a sedan and pickup truck surprisingly sunk into the earth, the vehicles closest to the sinkhole backed away in case the hole expanded. Borsutzki and Kurban did the opposite and ran towards the danger to help the trapped drivers. 

Authorities said no one was injured during this wild incident, but check out what happened, here:

The Metropolitan Utilities District said that “it is too early to attribute the cause to any single source,” according to KETV, but the incident also included a water main break.

Borsutzki said that after the clip went viral, her teammates and Omaha staff began to recognize her and Kurban. Borsutzki also said her strength coach texted her, “Very strong, big dog.”

“My dad told me that could have been really bad … ,” Borsutzki said. “In the moment it was just adrenaline. We just wanted to help.”

It was a good week for the Omaha Mavericks, as they defeated Oral Roberts on Wednesday, 84-75. It was a historic victory in which freshman Regan Juenemann dropped 40 points, while Sarai Estupiñan scored 30 points. There was also Avril Smith, who grabbed a whopping 23 rebounds. According to OptaSTATS, this Omaha trio was the first NBA, WNBA and Division I men’s or women’s trio to include a 40-point scorer, a 30-point scorer and a player that recorded 20 rebounds in a single game in the last 15 years.