Authorities have publicly identified a 27-year-old construction worker who died this week in a predawn accident at a project site across the street from Scripps Ranch High School.
Joel Olea Gomez of San Marcos was in a roughly 20-foot-deep trench that collapsed onto him at about 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The cave-in left him trapped under dirt and a “very large” concrete pipe that construction crews were installing as part of a water-system project at Hoyt Park Drive and Scripps Ranch Boulevard, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Deputy Chief Dan Eddy told reporters. The victim died at the scene.
A second worker who was in the pit at the time of the accident was able to avoid getting trapped, Eddy said.
Emergency personnel had to shore up the trench to prevent any further collapses prior to removing the body of the victim, a process that took more than four hours, according to SDFRD public affairs.
— City News Service
