Worker Killed in Sewer Trench Collapse
WEST NEWTON, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a trench collapse at a western Pennsylvania property has killed a man working at the site.
The Westmoreland County coroner’s office said 18-year-old Adam Skokut Jr. was installing a sewer pipe at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the property in South Huntingdon Township. That’s about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Officials said the nine-foot-deep trench began to fill with water and Skokut tried to escape but fell back into the trench, and the side walls collapsed, trapping him.
Officials said emergency responders were able to get him free to the waist and tried to revive him, but the remaining trench wall was so unstable they had to further secure it, and he died, The coroner’s office said he died of compression suffocation, and the death was ruled accidental.
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