JAI SALMON was setting up a soaker hose in his vegetable garden when the earth fell out from under him. He leaned backwards as he dropped 1½ metres, the impact aggravating a back injury that has since forced him to spend most of his time in bed. Karen Faber is now demanding answers as to why her husband is the victim of a narrow sink hole in his Springdale Heights backyard. The Albury Council sent staff out to investigate the September 5 incident. That included inspecting a drain pit that Mr Salmon said was a couple of metres away, outside the boundary of their rental home. But the couple are unlikely to have any answers for months. Ms Faber was told — when lodging an incident report last week — that the council would not send staff out again until at least November because the ground was so saturated. Ms Faber took her husband to Albury base hospital a couple of days after his fall because he had swelling and bruising and was in pain. “The doctor put him on some pretty heavy painkillers and told him he obviously had aggravated everything in his back,” she said. Mr Salmon will probably return to his GP tomorrow. He has been told scans might be necessary to detect if he had any new injuries. The council’s engineering services group leader Andrew Lawson said he was trying to fix a problem caused by two pipes next to the drainage pit separating. “Heavy rain has forced excess moisture to seep into the surrounding area, causing the sink hole,” he said. “The council will fix the drainage pit and the sinkhole, but works have been delayed by the wet conditions.” Mr Lawson said the ground was too soft to give the required machinery access to the site. “In the meantime, the council has ensured the area is secure and safe,” he said. Ms Faber said her concern was that others could fall into another new sinkhole. “The hole is getting bigger and filling with water,” she said. “Who’s to say it’s not happening again further along? “We have our grandson here every second weekend and he’s a 20-month-old little Mr Inquisitive.”