SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. — Two construction workers were cutting a pressurized water main with a saw when it ruptured Tuesday in The Villages, leaving one dead and another seriously injured, according to a newly obtained incident report.
The Villages Public Safety Department report provides new details about the Nov. 10 incident near Harmony Drive and McNeill Drive, where emergency crews encountered a large excavation filled with water.
Site managers described cutting the pipe
Firefighters arrived shortly before 8 a.m. and found a hole approximately 25 feet by 35 feet. The water prevented them from determining its depth.
Site managers told responders that two men had been inside the excavation cutting a water main.
“When they went to cut the water main with a saw the main was pressurized and blew,” the report states.
One worker escaped. The other remained underwater.
Managers pointed out where the trapped worker had last been seen and told firefighters they were working to shut off the water, according to the report.
Crews dug a drainage route
Firefighters placed ladders near the excavation to use as walking platforms and searched for the worker with long-handled tools called pike poles.
A responding crew asked the manager overseeing tractor work to have workers dig a separate hole, then connect it to the flooded excavation so water could drain away.
Two tractors helped drain the excavation. As the water receded, responders located the trapped man.
“He was approximately 15 feet from where the site managers relayed he was, and he was buried up to his waist in mud,” the report states.
Mud complicated efforts to remove worker
Rescuers used ropes to secure personnel entering the excavation and ladders to reach the worker.
A command narrative says responders found no pulse, and the operation shifted to a recovery.
Crews used shovels and buckets to remove mud surrounding the man. Even after placing a harness around him, they could not lift him free until he was completely uncovered, according to a rescue team’s account.
Responders then used a backboard to remove him.
The second worker was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center as a trauma patient.
Report does not determine fault
The report documents accounts from site managers and responding emergency crews. It does not establish why the main remained pressurized when workers began cutting it or determine responsibility for the incident.
The scene was turned over to Wildwood police and the medical examiner, according to the report.
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