/ 24 May 2005

Workers trapped in collapsed trench

Rescuers searched on Tuesday night for the bodies of four construction workers buried when an excavation trench collapsed outside a water-sports shop in Randburg earlier that day.

At about 7.30pm, a man was rescued after being wedged for four hours under a boulder lying diagonally over the trench.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Paul Nel said the man had been trapped from the torso downwards and rescuers had to dig him out.

”When they were 10 minutes away from getting him out, the boulder cracked and moved. They had to stop and put in extra hydraulic jacks to further shore the area,” said Nel.

The man was awake, talking and moving when he was taken to Sunninghill hospital in a ”serious but stable condition” in an ambulance, accompanied by his brother. It was not known if he had internal injuries.

Another man was easily freed soon after the rescue started at 3.30pm.

The men were working on a construction site for Waterworld, a company that sells boats and skis, when the trench — a few metres from the showroom — collapsed.

About 3m of a sand ledge came crashing down on the workers, trapping them under tonnes of sand.

”This is a very common thing, the ground giving way in this type of construction,” said Nel.

He said it is very unlikely that the four missing workers could be alive.

One of the world’s top rescue specialists, Colin Deiner, as well as team members who have performed rescues in India, Iran and Algeria, worked on the trench rescue.

”We had huge experience working on this,” said Nel.

Steve Hochstadter — the executive chairperson of Forza Marine, the company that owns Waterworld — said the rescue workers have been ”phenomenal”.

Hochstadter said that while this is a construction issue, Forza Marine is ”most concerned that there has been a tragedy on a building site on our location”.

”It has been a harrowing experience to those involved and our prayers and thoughts are with those concerned,” said Hochstadter.

Meanwhile, rescuers were using two tractor loader backhoes and rescue dogs to locate and retrieve the bodies of the four workers.

The dogs have identified the positions of three of the men trapped in the sand.

Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said at 9.30pm he had no idea how long it would take to retrieve the four missing men.

”It is quite a long, dangerous process, rescuing in a situation like this,” said Midgley. — Sapa