Long Island woman rescued after plunging into hole in her backyard on her birthday

The ground beneath a Long Island woman opened up, swallowing her into the earth below. 

Danielle Tammone spent several terrifying minutes in a hole in her quiet residential Bohemia backyard Thursday. 

Tammone said she suddenly found herself 8 feet underground in her backyard. Her dog Daisy anxiously looked on. 

She screamed for help, asking if anyone was there. 

"People suffocate and they die, so I thought that at first," she said. 

It happened on her 47th birthday. Tammone thinks she was trapped for about 30 minutes. 

"It's my birthday. This might be my death date," Tammone said. "I couldn't breathe well, because I was gasping, and scared and crying." 

Tammone said she wasn't sure if she had been swallowed into a water well, cesspool or sump. 

"I was trying to put my legs up to get out, but the stone was crumbling down," she said. 

Fortunately, her screams and cries for help were heard by neighbors. One neighbor happened to walk onto her porch as another was getting into her car. They both heard the screams and came running.

"The two women, Maggie and Christine," Tammone said. 

"At first, we thought she was in the shed or something. We were not looking on the ground," Christine Chanowsky said. 

Initially, they couldn't figure out where her cries for help were coming from.   

"And they said keep screaming, don't stop screaming," Tammone said. 

Their discovery of Tammone was caught on video. 

"Oh my God, she fell into the ground," one said. "We are on the phone with 911." 

"You're going to be fine, Danielle. They are on their way," said the other. 

Emergency responders used a ladder to get through mud, water and roots to rescue Tammone. 

"Firemen, cops, ambulance, special unit, EMTs - they were wonderful," she said. 

"I was tearing up. I was crying. As soon as she got out of the hole, just gave her the biggest hug," Chanowsky said. 

Tammone, a licensed physical therapist, is now working on her own recovery. Despite whiplash and pulled muscles, Tammone said she is overcome with gratitude. 

"And they all sang happy birthday to me. It was great," Tammone said.