SURREY, DELTA - A man was killed by a front-end loader in North Delta and three men escaped being buried alive in Surrey during two local worksite accidents Tuesday that are now being investigated by WorkSafe BC.
The fatal industrial accident happened in the 9400-block of River Road shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday. The victim's name has not been released. He was struck by a front-end loader and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Roughly two-and-a-half hours earlier, three workers became trapped inside a hole at a construction site after a trench collapsed at 104th Avenue and 158th Street in Surrey, at about 12:35 p.m. "They were putting a sewer line in to a residence," said Battalion Chief Ed Wells, of Surrey Fire Service. When firefighters arrived, he said, two of the three workers were trying to dig out the third man, who was buried to his waist.
Wells said the worker had stepped outside of a support cage and that it's believed the trench wall caved in as a result of vibrations from a heavy truck that had been passing by.
Wells said firefighters dug the man out with a shovel and then he was taken to hospital to be treated for injuries.
He noted the outcome could have been dire as a "precarious" mound of dirt loomed nearby. "If it had let go, it wasn't going to be good," Wells said.
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com