31 workers have been rescued after a construction project tunnel collapsed in Los Angeles.
According to CBS News, an under-construction waste management project in Wilmington was hit with an emergency after a tunnel 7 miles long, about 18 feet wide, and 450 feet below ground level collapsed on Wednesday night, July 9, trapping 31 workers.
The incident took place at the $630.5 million Los Angeles Effluent Outfall Tunnel, a wastewater project in Los Angeles County.
The Los Angeles Fire Department, after an hour of the mission, safely rescued all of the workers without any injuries. More than 100 personnel, including Urban Search and Rescue teams, participated in efforts at the construction site on the 1700 block of South Figueroa Street.
LA Mayor Karen Bass said, “We are all blessed today in Los Angeles, no one injured, everyone safe. I am feeling very good that this is a great outcome to what started as a very scary evening.”
She also thanked “brave” first responders for their immediate action and called them “true heroes” of the county.
As per Robert Ferrante, chief engineer for the LA County Sanitation Districts, initially 27 men were trapped in the tunnel while the four others entered to help their fellow workers.
Notably, the workers climbed around a 12- to 15-foot pile of dirt before getting lifted in a cage with the help of a crane.
