Construction Worker Recovering After Baltimore Trench Collapse
BALTIMORE (WJZ) – Saved from being buried alive on a construction site. A construction worker is recovering after a hole caved in on top of him early Wednesday morning.
Firefighters were able to pull him to safety, and the worker is expected to be okay.
Investigators are now working to figure out what went wrong in the minutes before.
Baltimore firefighters say when they arrived on scene, he was buried chest deep in dirt.
Scraps of yellow tape hang from temporary, plastic fencing.
Put up around a 15-foot hole in the hours after a construction worker suddenly found himself trapped inside.
Dirt collapsed around him at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, as he worked at a site on Quad Ave. and North Point Rd.
The collapse sent him to the hospital, and investigators to the scene.
30 members of the special operations unit with the Baltimore City Fire Department arrived, used special gear, and put a rope on the man to dig him out.
"It is a relief to know he is conscious and coherent," said Baltimore City Fire Chief Roman Clark.
Clark says the man is recovering at Shock Trauma after being saved from a situation he says could have been far worse.
"These situations can be dangerous, due to the fact, whenever you have a trench and it's not shored up properly, the collapse can end up burying you alive," Clark said.
Firefighters say they've turned the investigation over to OSHA to figure out what led to the collapse, and the terrifying minutes after, when rescuers say the man's co-workers may have climbed into the hole to try and dig him out.
Firefighters could not release details on the extent of the man's injuries, only that they did not appear to be life threatening.
Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook
