LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thirty-one workers safely exited a huge tunnel under construction in Los Angeles after a portion of it collapsed Wednesday evening, an outcome local officials called a blessing after they initially feared much worse.
The cave-in appears to have occurred between the tunnel boring machine 5 miles (8 kilometers) in from the sole entrance and the construction workers who were working 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) away from the entrance, said Michael Chee, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, which is in charge of the nearly $700 million project. The workers were about 400 feet (121 meters) underground.
Authorities were still investigating the cause, Chee said.
The workers scrambled over loose soil more than 12 feet (19.3 meters) high to reach the other side of the cave-in then were transported back to the project’s sole entrance. Aerial footage showed workers being brought out of the tunnel in a yellow cage hoisted up by a crane.
None of those rescued had major injuries, authorities said.
“I know when we raced down here I was so concerned that we were going to find tragedy. Instead, what we found was victory,” Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference after she met with some of the workers. “All of the men that were in that tunnel, rescued up safe.”
The tunnel is being constructed almost entirely underneath public right-of-way, Chee said. It’s 18 feet (5.5 meters) wide and will be 7 miles (11.3 kilometers) long and carry treated wastewater from across Los Angeles County out to the Pacific Ocean.
Work won’t resume until the project contractor assesses what happened and deems the site safe, authorities said.
LA City Councilmember Tim McOsker praised the workers for keeping cool heads.
“This is a highly technical, difficult project. And they knew exactly what to do. They knew how to secure themselves,” he said. “Thank goodness for the good people that were down in the tunnel.”
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