Wall collapse leaves Irving construction worker stuck in trench for two hours

A construction worker was hospitalized after the trench in which he was working collapsed, trapping him for several hours Monday afternoon.  

The worker was part of a crew that was building a French drain near an Irving business. While he was in the trench alone, one of the walls collapsed, trapping the man in waist high debris about five feet below ground.

“[Soil] can move at a speed of 45 mph so the human can’t get out of the way of that,” Irving Assistant Fire Chief J. Taylor said. “When it falls, it falls extremely quickly.”

Irving firefighters used a vacuum truck to loosen the dirt, freeing the worker after two hours. Taylor said that the situation could have been much worse.

“If it catches someone above the waist or around the lungs it just squeezes you until you can’t breathe anymore,” Taylor said. “Fortunately, in this situation, the worker was trapped from the waist down."

The worker was taken to a local hospital for observation, but is said to be in good spirits.