Worker dies in trench collapse

• BanguIzai

  18 Mar 10, 00:41

  
  Tragic: A paramedic examines the body of a Metro Water Department worker who was crushed to death when a trench collapsed in Umlazi. Photo: Gcina Ndwalane, Daily News

    Barbara Cole
    March 15 2010 at 01:18PM

  A Durban Metro Water worker has been crushed to death despite a desperate bid by frantic co-workers to rescue him from a collapsed trench.
  
  In a race against time on Sunday, with concrete, mud and rubble still falling, they risked their own lives, digging with their bare hands and spades to try to save their stricken colleague.
  
  But what started out as a rescue attempt became a recovery operation as it became clear that the as yet unnamed man had been killed instantly, said SAPS Search and Rescue Inspector Dave Steyn.
  
  The man had been asphyxiated by the mud compressing his chest and there had also been visible fractures to his lower limbs, Steyn said.

  The tragedy happened as Metro Water workers, helped by a team from an outside company, were installing new water pipes opposite the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi.
  
  The victim was in the trench alone when a water pipe unexpectedly burst, softening the soil and causing rubble, mud and concrete to wash away and collapse on him.
  
  When his fellow workers heard a scream for help, they rushed to his aid as a 4m deep crater appeared and he was buried beneath the collapsing infrastructure.
  
  As the various rescue services began arriving - SAPS Search and Rescue, Netcare 911 and the Metro Fire Department, as well as detectives - a crowd of onlookers began to gather and police had to keep them back as the recovery operation continued.
  
  Steyn and Netcare 911 paramedic Konrad Jones donned safety harnesses and went into the trench to ease the victim's broken body into a special recovery basket.
  
  And with the Fire Department on standby in case there was another emergency and the rescuers got into trouble themselves, they and the basket were winched to the surface by a Netcare crew.
  
  "The whole operation took three hours as we had to make sure everything was safe," said Steyn.
  
  The water had to be cut off and the detectives had to carry out their investigations before the body could be winched up and taken to the mortuary. 
  
  The Department of Labour has been informed of the accident.