MAPLETON — A 24-year-old man was critically injured after he was trapped for more than an hour in a 10-foot-deep trench in a construction accident in Mapleton, officials said.
The incident happened just before 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the area of 1600 S. 1600 West.
Mapleton Fire Capt. Ryan Smith said a call came in of a "reported cave-in" at a home in the neighborhood.
Multiple crews from across Utah Valley, including the Utah County Special Response Team, responded to help get the man out.
The city's public works department also responded with a vacuum truck to help remove the dirt from around the man.
Crews were able to stabilize the trench, and the first rescuer went in and started to dig the man out, eventually locating his head. The team of responders then stopped the machinery so they could see if the man was still alive or not.
"As soon as everything went quiet, the words, 'please don't stop,' came from beneath the dirt," officials with Provo Fire and Rescue wrote in a social media post regarding the effort.
Fire officials said rescue efforts continued as a team of three technicians rotated through muddy, unstable clay, digging for about 15 minutes at a time until the man was freed.
"The victim had been trapped in the trench for approximately 1.5 hours," the agency wrote.
Crews were able to rescue him from the hole by 9:04 p.m., and he was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.
Provo Fire and Rescue said "remarkably, the victim remained conscious and was able to communicate with rescuers throughout the entire operation, something very uncommon in trench rescues."
