Brevard County

Crews rescue worker from collapsed trench on Cocoa construction site

COCOA, Fla. — It took crews almost three hours to rescue a worker from a collapsed trench at a construction site in Cocoa on Thursday.

At one point, officials said there were 29 personnel on the scene working to free the man, who was eventually airlifted to a nearby trauma center.

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Officials said that when they arrived on the scene off U.S. 1 near Camp Road, the 59-year-old worker was up to his neck in water. They said they managed to drain the water to about chest high and used heavy equipment to get dirt and sand out of the collapsed trench.

Eventually, they were able to the water down even lower and the worker out.

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“They were doing a test hole out there. There were two workers standing on the side of the hole and the sides collapsed,” said Don Walker, the director of Brevard County Communications. “One of the workers fell in and then the other side of the hole collapsed and that’s when it began to fill up with water.”

Channel 9 reached out to Jr. Davis Construction, which was doing the work, but the firm declined to comment.

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Sarah Wilson

Sarah Wilson, WFTV.com

Sarah Wilson joined WFTV Channel 9 in 2018 as a digital producer after working as an award-winning newspaper reporter for nearly a decade in various communities across Central Florida.