When a construction worker in Scottsdale, Arizona, fell into a 25-foot trench at a worksite on Monday morning, a fellow worker jumped down to rescue him — but he also got stuck.
The crew had been installing a sewage pipe, according to KNXV-TV.
The Scottsdale Fire Department was called in to assist at the scene.
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“Scottsdale Fire worked a first Alarm Trench Rescue with our valley regional partners this morning,” the department shared on Facebook. “The incident involved two individuals needing to be pulled from a 25-foot trench.
“One was injured but stable and the other originally went in to help his coworker. The two were safely removed from the trench, with the injured worker transported to an area hospital.”
The 43-year-old man who fell into the trench sustained head and neck injuries, but the man who jumped in after him was fine, according to KSAZ-TV.
They were both alert and talking throughout the rescue.
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Rescuers had to be careful not to collapse the trench. They shored up the sides with plates and crossbars and lowered a ladder down.
It took hours and multiple agencies to rescue the two men.
“We were successful in getting a bystander and a patient out of a trench that was 25 to 30 feet deep,” M.D. Clark of the Scottsdale Fire Department said, according to Inside Edition.
“It’s a four-hour-plus-long operation where we had to insert multiple crews and build what we call shoring boxes for safety, and that’s what took the extended amount of time.”
“They train once a week on different technical rescue techniques,” Clark added of the first responders who made the rescue. “This is one of the low-frequency, high-risk situations they train on all the time.”
“We were able to accomplish what we came here to do, which is get the patient and bystander out of a trench with no further injuries to them or our crews.”
An investigation is ongoing to determine whether proper safety protocols were followed.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.