Crime & Safety

Report: Man Dead Following Manhole Rescue

One man was able to make it out on his own, while another was unconscious and unresponsive Monday morning.

Creve Coeur Patch contacted the Metropolitan Sewer District, which could not confirm the information, and left messages with the Creve Coeur Fire Protection District and OSHA.

 

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Original Story:

One man is complaining of headaches and dizziness and another is being treated at a local hospital Monday following a manhole rescue in St. Louis County.

Find out what's happening in Creve Coeurwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

District and Maryland Heights Fire crews responded to the scene at the West Pointe Apartment Complex near Bennington Place and Page Avenue Extension just before 10 a.m.

"We got a call of two people down in a manhole," Creve Coeur Deputy Fire Marshal Jerry McQueen tells Patch.

Rescue crews found two men at the bottom of the 18-foot manhole. McQueen said one man come out on his own, the other was unconscious at the bottom of the hole. Crews had to preform a confined space rescue to retrieve the second man. McQueen said he was still unresponsive when he came out of the manhole and taken to.

"We don't know if they guy had a medical emergency or was overcome by some fumes," McQueen tells Patch. "That is undetermined at this time."

A visibly shaken West Pointe resident, Jean Baker, tells Patch that it was awful to know somone was stuck underground and there was nothing anyone could do but wait.

"It's very disturbing," Baker said. "I talk to these sewer guys every morning. They're hard workers."

Fire officials say OSHA and Metropolitan Sewer District investigators were arriving on the scene. McQueen said the two men were actually employees of a contract company that services underground piping.


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