A worker at 2nd Ave. and 95th St. is trapped in mud at the Second Ave. Subway construction site, according to multiple reports. As NBC New York reports, “The worker has been stuck in what firefighters at the scene described as ‘muck’ from the waist down inside a trench about 75 feet below street level at 95th Street and 2nd Avenue. The 911 call was placed at about 8:40 p.m.”
According to recent reports, crews are attempting to, according to PIX 11, use “hands, buckets and small tools to keep the man from slipping deeper into the muck.” While the worker’s condition is unknown, he has since been anchored by a series of ropes and will not be further trapped in the muck. As of 30 minutes ago, the vacuum truck was still on the way. I’ll update this post as more information comes in.
7 comments
Hope all works out safely, but why is construction going on so late?
Work underground routinely runs until at least 10pm. The emergency vehicles were on the scene around 9, so there’s nothing unusual about work going on at that hour.
One thing to keep in mind when people lament how subway construction is much more expensive than it used to be, even when adjusted for inflation, is that in the old days it was considered normal for some number of workers to lose their lives for every mile of track. A work accident like this would not have been newsworthy, even if it turned out to be fatal (which we certainly hope will not be the case with tonight’s accident). Building a subway tunnel will never be a safe endeavor, but it’s reasonable to pay more to make it significantly less dangerous than it was a century ago.
I thought the construction rules stated work would stop at 7pm and not start until 7am. I will check with my peeps tomorrow
Work underground can go on around the clock 24/7 with the strict exception of blasting.
If the MTA did all the major work (i.e. blasting, mining, cut and cover) at night, then it would piss off the residents.
I had to monitor Seismic readings for a blast at GCT last year. It went off roughly when it was scheduled … about 9:50PM.
Perhaps the time constraints are a function of how deep it is, proximity to residences – or both.
I hope he gets out alive soon and that this does not turn into a Second Avenue saga.