UPDATED: Trench collapse victim dies from his injuries

Written by Mori Kessler
February 18, 2019

ST. GEORGE — A construction worker was taken to the hospital in critical condition after a trench collapsed on top of him Monday afternoon.

A man is in critical condition after a part of a trench collapsed on top of him in the Little Valley area, St. George, Utah, Feb. 18, 2019 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Updated Tuesday, Feb. 19, 11 a.m. The worker, identified by police as Britton Wilson, 20, has died from his injuries, according to St. George Police officer Tiffany Atkin.

The St. George Fire Department and other responders were sent to the area of 3430 East and 2170 South in Little Valley just after 4 p.m. where a trench was being excavated as a part of road and utility work, St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said.

A member of the crew, a man in his mid-20s, either had the ground give way under him in or he tripped  and fell into the trench. Before his coworkers could get a ladder down to him to climb out, the side of the trench collapsed on top of him.

Members of the excavation crew and other first responders were able to dig the man out and began to administer life-saving measures prior to the Fire Department’s arrival, Stoker said.

The man was taken by Gold Cross Ambulance to Dixie Regional Medical Center in critical condition. He was still in the emergency room as of 5:30 p.m., Stoker said.

The excavation crew said they had taken the proper safety precautions while working in the trench, like using a trench box to stabilize it, Stoker said. However, they had moved the trench box to a new location prior to the man’s falling in.

“They were doing everything correct.”

The crew is a part of a local company contracted with the city of St. George as a part of “a major public works project” to add utility line and roadway upgrades that will serve new schools being built nearby in Washington City, Stoker said.

Wet conditions in the soil may have contributed to the collapse, he said.

That part of Little Valley has groundwater that saturates the soil, and the rain and snow the region has had recently likely didn’t help.

Trench rescues are among the additional incidents members of St. George Fire Department respond to outside of combating fire and are part of their regular training.

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Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @MoriKessler

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MoriKessler@STGnews

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