Thousands of you watched it live on our Facebook page - a construction worker trapped in a trench, rescued by Warren firefighters.
It was an incredible show of skill and teamwork.
Now, we're getting new information on how that worker is doing and we're meeting some of the heroes who helped save his life!
The worker fell into a trench that was 13 feet deep.
The 911 calls tell the intense story:
Dispatcher: What's going on?
Caller: A trench just collapsed with a guy in it.
Dispatcher: Do you guys have contact with this guy? Is he ok or you don't know?
Caller: No. We can't get to him yet. Hurry up.
Within 4 minutes of that 911 call, Warren firefighters were on the scene near Van Dyke and 13 Mile Road Tuesday.
Fifteen firefighters, with their hearts racing, worked to save the man's life.
When we rolled up the guy was completely buried,” says Warren Fire Captain Ron Laszczak. “The construction guys didn't know where he was - thought he was in one spot, then his hand popped up.”
That hand showed the firefighters where to dig and, within moments, they had uncovered the man's head.
We're told the 37-year-old had been working on a sewer line when the trench gave way. He was buried in Michigan clay, a heavy substance that gave him no room to move.
“The guy is like submerged, says Laszczak. “We were able to get an IV started on him, give him drugs too. Pain on a scale of 1 to 10, he said 20.”
“We got strong boards out,” Laszczak continued. “Set boards up against side to keep everything from falling in. Guys started digging by hand.”
They worked feverishly to free him, rotating firefighters and trying to reassure the man.
Firefighter Rob Loring was down in that trench - just inches away from the man's face.
“He just kept saying ‘I don't want to die, don't let me die’,” Loring says. “Our guys kept giving him reassurance – ‘We're not goin nowhere.’.”
In spite of his pain, that 37-year-old man expressed his gratitude in the middle of it all.
After 2 hours of skill, commitment and teamwork that man was rescued. Firefighter Loring lifted him out.
“We cut his boot and I was able to pull his leg out of the boot, once we got to the real bottom.” Loring says. “It's a great feeling.”
The firefighters couldn’t stop smiling; they were so happy that man is alive and expected to be okay.
By the way, we’ve learned the rescue crew is the same crew that rescued a man from under a truck on I-696 last month.
