BEIJING >>  Chinese state media say a teenage girl was rescued by a taxi driver after falling into a deep sinkhole that opened up on a city sidewalk near a school.

China Central Television aired footage Wednesday from a surveillance video that showed the teenager in a pink coat falling down the 6-meter (20-foot) hole in Xi’an city in central China last month.

Taxi driver Wang Wei told CCTV he witnessed the accident and climbed into the muddy sinkhole to rescue the unconscious teenager. Wang said he patted the girl to wake her up, then helped her climb to safety when firefighters lowered a ladder down to the pair.

The China Daily newspaper said in an earlier report the girl was taken to hospital for treatment and recovered.