Photo shows the scene in Scripps Ranch after construction worker killed after being trapped under dirt and a pipe in a trench on Aug. 28, 2024.
Authorities have publicly identified a 27-year-old construction worker who died this week in a predawn accident at a project site across the street from Scripps Ranch High School.
Joel Olea Gomez of San Marcos was in a roughly 20-foot-deep trench that collapsed onto him at about 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.
The cave-in left him trapped under dirt and a "very large" concrete pipe that construction crews were installing as part of a water-system project at Hoyt Park Drive and Scripps Ranch Boulevard, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Deputy Chief Dan Eddy told reporters. The victim died at the scene.
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A second worker who was in the pit at the time of the accident was able to avoid getting trapped, Eddy said.
Wood planks on the north side of the trench did not go all the way to the bottom and the weight of all that dirt caused the giant steel pipe encased in concrete to pin one of the workers inside, SDFD Batt. Chief Tommy Charpentier said.
Emergency personnel had to shore up the trench to prevent any further collapses prior to removing the body of the victim, a process that took more than four hours, according to SDFRD public affairs.
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To get the victim out of the trench, they needed to remove the dirt first by using a vactor truck, usually used to clean out storm drains. The engineers did some testing before a life-pulley system attached to a ladder truck was used to safely lower a member of the fire department's technical rescue team down to recover the man's body.
The pipe is part of the City of San Diego's Pure Water Project. There are other major water and sewer lines down in the trench as well, so they had to be careful to not rupture any of the during the process.
Cal/OSHA was called to the scene to conduct an investigation. Construction in the area will be stopped until their investigation is complete. But the battalion chief told NBC 7 the Pure Water Project stretches across several miles and it's unclear if work on the entire project will be halted or just along this section.
Eddy said the other person who managed to get out of the hole did not suffer any significant injuries.
