EDINA, Minn. - A construction worker is recovering at home after rescuers pulled him out from under a large hunk of concrete at a home in Edina Wednesday morning.
The accident occured shortly before 8 a.m. on a site at 16 Paddock Road in Edina. Fire Chief Marty Scheerer tells KARE 11 that the man was working on the foundation of a house in the Rolling Green neighborhood when the soil gave way. The construction worker became trapped from the waist down by a large hunk of concrete, likely waste left over from when crews poured the home's foundation.
Rescuers worked with caution due to concerns about a second slab of unstable concrete that is above the trapped worker. Scene coordinators worried that the second slab could be jarred loose and fall on the victim.
The man was trapped face-down in what rescuers describe as a small, confined space for about two and a half hours. He was conscious and stable but doctors provided pain medication to cope with his injuries.
Scheerer estimated it would take at least two hours to free the man, and it took about half an hour more than that.
Images shot from SKY 11 show rescuers pulling the man from the trench and loading him into an ambulance that rushed him to Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC).
The construction worker has since been released from the hospital. While he did not identify himself, the man did release a statement thanking Edina firefighters and everyone else involved in the rescue, saying "They did a top-notch job and made me comfortable throughout the rescue. They were absolutely professional."
First responders from Hopkins, St Louis Park, Eden Prairie and Minneapolis, plus members of a special response team called Minnesota Task Force One were also on the scene assisting. Scheerer says 60 crew members rotated in and out due to rising temperatures and a dangerous heat index.
OSHA inspectors were on site during the extrication and will continue investigating exactly what happened.
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