New York City ? A New Jersey woman barely dodged death Thursday morning after she fell through a metal Con Edison utility grate, plunging 12 feet below ground and landing on her back on muddy concrete next to a transformer carrying 13,000 volts.

“She was inches away from being electrocuted,” firefighter Frank Rush said. “She’s absolutely lucky to be alive.”

Jessica Hinkmon, 26, who was on her way to work, suffered neck, back, elbow, wrist and leg injuries and was admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in serious but stable condition, authorities said.

Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesman, said Hinkmon fell into a transformer vault when its metal door somehow gave way. Video from a nearby building shows Hinkmon essentially being swallowed by the sidewalk.

Firefighters worked their way around exposed feeder lines, strapped Hinkmon to a stretcher and hoisted her out of the transformer vault and up to the sidewalk.