OCR Text |
Show Co-workers save life of man trapped by cave-in By JUDY JENSEN Editor NORTH SALT LAKE-Heroic efforts by several city employees saved the life of a street department worker who was buried in a cave-in on Thursday. The emergency arose when city employees Brad Sessions and Phil Roberts responded to a call reporting repor-ting a broken water main at 690 N. Main Street The two men excavated the site and proceeded to repair the broken pipe at the bottom of the six-foot deep hole. "They were in the hole when the west side of the trench caved in trapping Brad and Phil," said City Manager Collin Wood. Roberts was able to extricate himself from the hole and called for help on the radio. He then re-, entered the hole to try to free Sessions. Ses-sions. He was joined by City Public Works foreman Jeff Tingey. The 6 '7" foreman began to dig with his hands to try to free Sessions. It was during this time that a second se-cond cave-irr occurred. "I didn't even know it had happened until i Phil told me it was my body that kept the wall of dirt from burying him a second time," said the big man. Tingey said he then realized he too was buried up to his knees in the heavy mud, although he did not require assistance to free himself. Another city employee, "Bob Conklin grabbed Brad's head and held it above the water as the rest of us tried to dig him out," said Tingey. Police Officer Steve Harder had also arrived on the scene to assist with the rescue operation. CONTINUED ON PG.2 ... i .! - - - . 4 r- f - f Ji . frr -" - . ----- 41 . " . i i - 1 - " L I ? V 1 North Salt Lake employees are credited with saving the life of co-worker Brad Sessions after the side of a trench caved in. Session's head had to be held above water as the rescue was conducted. Co-workers save life of man trapped bv cave-in - - - - -.' -v f ' " : : - " :V . " i . 4 ; -.- - : 3 ; r $ - CONTINUED FROM PG. 1 The rescue was made extremely difficult due to the fact that Sessions' Ses-sions' knee was dislocated, and his leg was pinned at an odd angle. 4 'He was in severe pain, and he had been in the freezing water up to his shoulders for nearly one-half hour. It was all I could do to keep him from going into shock. He thought he was going to drown and die there," said Tingey. When the area around Sessions had been enlarged, another city worker, Phil Myers, manned the backhoe, and with Haider's directions direc-tions was able to move enough of the mud to free Sessions' leg. Sessions and Roberts were transported to Lakeview Hospital. Roberts was treated and released. Sessions had received fractures to both knees, and underwent surgery on the left knee on Friday and surgery on the right on Monday. A nursing supervisor said although he sustained "very serious" injuries to both knees, Sessions is listed in stable condition. JEFF TINGEY |