Police: Rescuers pull body of man who died from Lockhart trench
4:21 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
LOCKHART — 4:15 p.m. update: The body of the Lockhart worker who died Wednesday after a construction trench collapsed has been retrieved, authorities said.
The man was declared dead at the scene, Lockhart police Capt. John Roescher said. He hasn’t been identified.
Another person was also injured in the incident and was conscious and alert when taken to the hospital, authorities said.
A construction trench collapsed in Lockhart on Wednesday morning, killing one man and injuring another, authorities said. Photo by Katie Hall/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
3:10 p.m. update: A construction trench collapsed in Lockhart on Wednesday morning, killing one man and injuring another, authorities said.
Lockhart police Capt. John Roescher said the injured man was airlifted to a hospital and was conscious and alert.
The man who was killed was trapped underground as a trench was being built near the intersection of Clear Fork Street and City Line Road.
“Recovery of the body has been hampered by further collapse,” Roescher said.
Roescher could only confirm that the collapse was related to construction but he could not say which company was involved.
He said authorities so far were unsure of the time the collapse occurred, only that it happened before noon.
Federal investigators with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are in charge of investigation.
Several public safety agencies are working to get the body out, including Lockhart EMS, police and fire departments and Chisholm Trail Fire Rescue.
Linda Baylis, who lives in the subdivision across the street from where the collapse happened, said construction workers had been working east to west along Clear Fork Street, laying what appeared to be large sewer lines. They had been doing that work for a couple of weeks, she said.
Earlier: A construction worker is dead and several others are injured after an excavation project collapsed in Lockhart, police officials said Wednesday afternoon.
Lockhart police said on their Facebook page about 12:40 p.m. that Clear Fork Street from Mockingbird Lane to City Line Road will be closed for several hours while crews respond to the incident. Area residents will be allowed to enter if they approach from the San Jacinto Street. The schools in the area can be accessed through West San Antonio Street, officials said.
Aug 31, 2016, 1:36pm CDT Updated Aug 31, 2016, 2:58pm CDT
A construction worker for Mercer Construction Company died and several others were injured Wednesday in Lockhart, southeast of Austin, after an excavation project collapsed.
The incident happened at around 12:30 p.m. near Clear Fork and City Line roads, west of Lockhart High School, according to KXAN. Someone who lives in the area said construction crews were digging a water line on Clear Fork Street for nearby home development before the collapse, the TV station reports.
The Caldwell County Courthouse in Lockhart. A construction worker died Wednesday
Arnold WellsABJ
KXAN reports that Clear Fork Road from Mockingbird to City Line Road will be blocked off during the investigation. The station also identified the company involved as Mercer, which is based in Edna, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.
Casey Perkins, director of the Austin office of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said Lockhart police reported the incident to his office and that OSHA has dispatched investigators to the scene.
The death comes less than a month after a balloon crashed near Lockhart, killing 16 people.
This is a developing story and we will update this post if we hear more.