Construction worker pulled out of collapsed trench in King County

It was all hands on deck for Eastside Fire and Rescue crews, along with other responding agencies, as they pulled out a construction worker from a collapsed trench in Sammamish on Monday.

According to Deputy Chief Doug McDonald, the call came in around 2:20 p.m. that a construction worker was buried alive in an 8-foot trench. He said the walls gave in on him while installing pipes at a property on Northeast 3rd Place.

Deputy Chief McDonald said 70 minutes after the call came in, the construction worker was rushed to Harborview Medical Center with critical injuries.

“In this case when we got here, there wasn’t what we see wasn’t the shoring we anticipate to see when digging a trench,” Deputy Chief McDonald said.

KIRO 7 spoke with neighbors about the massive response and their worries about the worker being severely injured.

“Especially because this is like such a super surprise for people because it was just a hole and it collapsed on him,” Akshara Zunnuru, who lives several houses down from the collapse, said.

Construction workers filled up the trench per the request from Eastside Fire and Rescue to make sure there were no other dangers present on the property. Deputy Chief McDonald offered this advice to any and every future homeowner.

“If you are a homeowner and you are bringing construction workers in to do work at your home, make sure they are trained and they have the appropriate equipment to do that,” he said. “So that both you and your family and construction workers are safe.”

Just before 9 p.m., a spokesperson with Harborview Medical Center told KIRO 7 that the construction worker’s condition was satisfactory, meaning he is expected to be OK.

Labor and Industries is investigating the collapse.

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