Two Workers Found Dead After Trench Collapse in Hoover
Two workers were found dead Tuesday evening after a trench collapsed on them in a Hoover neighborhood. The discovery came after an hours-long rescue and recovery effort.
Authorities with the Hoover Fire Department say they initially received a call just after 3 p.m. alerting them that two workers were trapped beneath a fallen trench.
“We did not know their exact location in the trench,” says Scott West, captain with the Hoover Fire Department. “We had to dig and work to find them.”
He says the trench, which was being used to install a drainage system, was about 8-feet deep, 4-feet wide and approximately 50-feet long. Close to 30 rescue workers, from both the Hoover Fire Department and Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service, helped search for the men.
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato: This is an extensive operation. Rescuing the men could take three to six hours. The collapsed trench is 8 feet deep. Fire & Rescue crews from Birmingham will assist. https://t.co/vai85XMzKB
— WBHM 90.3 FM (@WBHM) July 23, 2019
“We worked for over two hours digging – hand digging with shovels,” West says. “Once we found them and were able to assess them, we realized that they were deceased.”
The workers’ identities have not been released. The Jefferson County Coroner’s office will determine the exact cause of death.
Authorities say the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been contacted and there will be an investigation into what caused the trench to collapse. The two men worked for the Birmingham-based company Water Drainage Solutions, Inc. Officials there did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
From bromance to breakup: How Elon Musk and Donald Trump blew up
The blow up marks the end of an alliance between the president and the billionaire that lasted far longer than many observers expected.
Israel says it’s arming clans to fight Hamas in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the government was arming factions in the Gaza Strip to combat Hamas, after accusations from an opposition politician.
Trump’s travel ban includes Afghanistan, where thousands await U.S. resettlement
President Trump's travel ban on a dozen countries includes Afghanistan. Since American troops left in August of 2021, many Afghans have already arrived in the U.S. but many more are still waiting.
After his mother’s death, Ocean Vuong wrote his way out of grief
Vuong's new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, is the first he's written, from start to finish, since his mother died in 2019. He says writing it was a way to honor her memory.
Trump says he and Musk ‘had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore’
Trump said he was surprised that his former adviser Elon Musk is scorching the Republican megabill, but said he thought Musk was wrong and conflicted in his criticism.
Concerns over conditions in U.S. immigration detention: ‘We’re hearing the word “starving” ‘
ICE detentions have surged, but deportations have lagged. Over the past month, NPR spoke to dozens of detainees, families and lawyers who spoke of overcrowded facilities lacking food and medicine.
