Woman Scalded to Death after Fatal Fall into Manhole: Med Examiner
A 56-year-old grandmother died after stepping out of her SUV and falling into an uncovered manhole in Midtown Manhattan late on May 18.
| 20 May 2026 | 08:54
A manhole cover sits near East 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan following the death of Donike Gocaj, 56, who authorities said fell into an uncovered manhole after stepping out of her vehicle Monday night, May 18, 2026, in New York. Investigators are continuing to examine the situation. (
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Donike Gocaj, above with two of her grandchildren. She died in a freak accident when she fell down an uncovered manhole on May 18 after stepping out of the front door of her parked car. (
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The 56-year-old grandma who took a fatal fall after stepping from her SUV into an uncovered manhole the night of May 18 died from scald burns and inhalation of the scalding vapor, the chief medical examiner revealed.
She had parked her Mercedez-Benz SUV Parker near the Cartier store on East 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue late on May 18, according to the NYPD when she disappeared down the uncovered manhole.
The woman was identified as Donike Gocaj.
The Chief Medical Examiner determined that she died of “scald burns with inhalational thermal injury and blunt force trauma of torso.”
Officers responded to a 911 call around 11:19 p.m., police said. But the woman who had been crying out in the moments after she had first tumbled about ten feet down the manhole had already grown silent by the time she was pulled out by first responders and rushed by EMTs to the only hospital in the city with a burn unit, but it was already too late.
“Upon arrival, officers observed an unconscious and unresponsive 56-year-old female inside of an uncovered manhole in front of the location,” a police spokesperson said in a statement. Bystanders reportedly tried in vain to pull her out of the manhole pit before first responders arrived but were unable to do so, driven back by the scalding hot temperatures that were quickly rendering the woman unconscious.
“EMS responded and transported the female to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, but she was pronounced deceased.
Witness Carlton Wood described the heartbreaking scene moments after the woman tumbled down the manhole in an interview with ABC7 New York.
“I saw a woman stepping out of her car, and as soon as she stepped out, it’s like she took one step forward and just disappeared,” Wood said.
“She was screaming, ‘I’m dying,’ that’s what I kept hearing her screaming over and over,” he added. “She wasn’t distracted, she didn’t walk onto a construction site. She parked her car, stepped out of her car and dropped right into the manhole.”
Officials said the manhole cover was found approximately 15 feet from the opening.
A Con Edison spokesperson said the utility company reviewed surveillance footage and said it appeared a tractor trailer had dislodged the manhole only minutes before the tragic accident.
“We have reviewed video footage from the area which suggests that the cover was dislodged after a multi-axle truck turning onto East 52nd Street from Fifth Avenue drove over it,” a Con Edison spokesperson told Straus News.
The spokesperson added that approximately 12 minutes passed between the cover being displaced and the woman parking her vehicle nearby.
Family members described Gocaj as a loving mother to a son and daughter and a grandmother of two who lived in Westchester County.
Yorktown Funeral Home has created an online memorial where friends, family members, and loved ones can share condolences and send flowers or plant a tree in her memory.
“She was screaming, ‘I’m dying,’ that’s what I kept hearing her screaming over and over’,” witness Carlton Wood via ABC7.