Thirty-one workers were rescued, some hoisted to safety in a cage, after a tunnel collapsed at a Los Angeles construction project Wednesday night, officials said and video showed.
There were no injuries in the incident in the Wilmington section of the city, where a wastewater management project was underway, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
“Tonight, we were lucky,” LAFD Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva told reporters. More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene, he said.
The collapse of the 18-foot in diameter tunnel was reported at 7:58 p.m., Villanueva said. It occurred around 5 to 6 miles away from the entrance, the LAFD said.
Helicopter footage from NBC Los Angeles showed a large circular concrete structure at the site, leading to a work area below with construction equipment.
A crane lifted a yellow cage with some workers inside at least twice, dropping them safely on the surface, the video showed.
Twenty-seven workers were trapped after the collapse, and four others went in to assist, Villanueva said.
“The workers had to climb through debris” and rescuers came to them to help them out, Villanueva said.
The LAFD said that preliminary reports indicated the workers had to scramble over a 12-to-15-foot-tall pile of loose soil after the collapse to meet rescuers.
The workers were operating a tunnel boring machine when the collapse occurred, Robert Ferrante, chief engineer and general manager for the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, told reporters.
“A section that they have already built had squeezing ground and had a collapse, a partial collapse,” he said. The men were able to reach a vehicle that brought them to the shaft site, he said.
Mayor Karen Bass went to the scene and said she was relieved all the workers were safe. She called the first responders “L.A.’s true heroes.”
“I was so concerned that we were going to find tragedy. Instead, what we found was victory,” Bass said.
Wilmington is a neighborhood in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, near the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
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