Worker dead after trench wall buckles in northwest Calgary

Blog

HomeHome / Blog / Worker dead after trench wall buckles in northwest Calgary

Jun 09, 2023

Worker dead after trench wall buckles in northwest Calgary

Crews were still excavating for safe access to the man as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday

Crews were still excavating for safe access to the man as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening

Rescuers worked frantically Thursday to unearth a worker buried in a trench at a worksite in the city's northwest.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Don't have an account? Create Account

But hours after rescue efforts began, the man's body had still not been pulled from the trench that had been dug Wednesday, leaving those on the scene expecting the worst.

Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Calgary Herald Headline News will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Just before 11 a.m., emergency crews were called to a back alley in the 2600 block of 34 Avenue N.W. in the Charleswood area where a wall of earth and parts of a retaining wall had buckled onto a private contractor who was on a ladder doing work on a sewer line in a three to six-metre-deep trench.

Crews were still excavating for safe access to the man as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening.

"An entire wall sloping from a backyard collapsed on him, a large amount of earth," said Calgary Fire Department spokeswoman Carol Henke, adding the rescue had become a recovery.

"Sadly, typically for these kinds of situations, it's not a positive outcome."

As she spoke, rescuers on the scene were awaiting an excavator to help dig out the trench that had been partly filled by a collapsed retaining wall.

"Firefighters used tools to remove the sandy soil and parts of the cinder block retaining wall however it became evident that heavy equipment was needed for removal of the surrounding dirt to access the trapped man," stated a fire department press release early Thursday evening.

Henke said it's not clear how long the man, in his late 20s, had been buried before the alarm was raised, though it might have been several minutes, adding she believes he was accompanied at the time by fellow workers.

Henke said "in a sad coincidence" the technical rescue team that responded to the scene had been undergoing training on Thursday for just that scenario.

"These types of situations don't happen very often, but we have to be prepared," she said.

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety investigators were on the scene, said Henke.

[email protected]

Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

To contribute to the conversation, you need to be logged in. If you are not yet registered, create your account now - it's FREE.

included