DRAPER, Utah, Aug. 27, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A construction worker was critically injured Tuesday after being buried up to his waist when a trench collapsed on him about 6 p.m. at a Draper construction site near 2337 E. Mercer Point.
It took more than two hours, but emergency responders were finally able to free the man after securing the walls of the 25-foot-deep trench he was working in.
“You have to be extremely cautious before you can send rescue workers down into a situation like that,” Draper Fire Department Battalion Chief Brian Plummer told Gephardt Daily. “That meant shoring up the earthen walls with wooden planking.”
The man was finally flown by 9 p.m. via a Life Flight medical chopper with “fairly extensive injuries” to an area hospital, Plummer said.
The trench collapse took place at a residential construction site, according to Plummer.
The worker’s prognosis was uncertain.
