Worker trapped in hole after trench collapse at Charleroi construction site

UPDATE: The worker has been rescued.

The previous story from Aug. 28, 2025, is below. 

A worker is trapped in a large hole after a trench collapsed at a construction site in Charleroi, prompting a massive rescue operation. 

Dozens of first responders from multiple departments and several counties responded to the scene near the intersection of McKean Avenue and Eighth Street on Thursday night. Dispatchers said the call for help came in around 8:20 p.m. 

Charleroi Fire Chief Robert Whiten Jr. said the trench is about 15 feet deep, and the worker became buried from the chest down when it collapsed. The worker is alive and "in good spirits," Whiten said. 

"The guys, the EMS, and I have a paramedic in my department, they've been down there giving him IVs and doing all the things that they need to do to keep him going and keep him relaxed and giving him some hope that we're going to get you out of here, it's going to take a little bit of time," Whiten said. 

Whiten said they're taking it one step at a time. They're removing all the dirt first before they can focus on rescuing the trapped worker. 

"They're going to try to loosen the dirt up around him with an air compressor truck, they call it a knife," he explained. "They'll go down in there, loosen the dirt, and the vac truck will suck that dirt out and they'll keep going a little bit at a time. The one problem is the dirt's clay, so clay's like concrete. So they got to use, you know, a little bit of water in there to loosen it up, and at the time, they'll be able to suck that out of there."  

Whiten said it will take several hours, but they have plenty of resources, including a trench rescue team. 

"We got enough resources, we got extra resources coming, so hopefully within a couple hours we'll get him up out of there and go from there," he said.   

As for what the crew is doing, Whiten said he's unsure, but it's been going on for a while. 

"They've been working on the gas lines in this town for six months, and you can see, if you come into this town, the town's a mess. And I don't know what they're doing, they're doing sewer line or water line. This has been like this for three weeks, everybody's been complaining," Whiten said. 

As the rescue unfolds, Whiten told people to avoid the area.