Man rescued from collapsed trench in Maricopa County after being buried under 30 feet of dirt

Officials detail harrowing rescue of man buried in collapsed trench

The incident, according to officials with Rural Metro, happened in an area near El Mirage Road and Glendale Avenue. FOX 10's Lauren Clark has more on the high-risk rescue that was done by workers at the scene.

MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. - Crews rescued a worker in a front loader that had been buried under about two to three stories of dirt when the walls of a trench around him collapsed.

This happened on Oct. 27 near El Mirage Road and Glendale Avenue at 9:30 a.m.

Rural Metro's Shawn Gilleland stated, "At approximately 10:15 a.m., the workers exposed the top of the apparatus in which he was trapped. They report they saw movement inside the cab and are working to further excavate to get the worker out."

Just after 11 a.m., the trapped worker was extricated and evaluated at the scene. Gilleland said the worker is not reporting any injuries, but he was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

"I can’t only imagine, considering being pinned around at least approximately three stories' worth of dirt. Thousands of pounds of dirt around that apparatus," said Gilleland.

The man's name has not been released. We have contacted the person listed as the site manager, but that person declined to comment.

Officials detail high-risk rescue efforts

Firefighters say the trench was about four to five stories deep, and they also say the worker's life came down to a stroke of luck, as well as the work of fast-thinking colleagues.

As the worker became trapped, crews say the man's co-workers went into a race against the clock. While the man was protected inside the front seat bubble of the equipment, oxygen was possibly running out.

"Obviously we didn’t know at the time when all that dirt is on top of him, until they got down to him, how much air, how much time he may have left in that cab," said Gilleland.

Co-workers then used an excavator to try to dig him out.

"Extremely risky," said Gilleland. "Obviously, you still have a lot of dirt above them in that trench, and it’s all unstable."

When the man was dug out, he was able to communicate, according to Gilleland. The worker was not hurt, aside from being covered with dirt from the waist down.

"I hae to say, there was a miracle that worked there," said Gilleland.

Crews thanked the quick actions of the man's co-workers.