Worker Buried at Sea Ridge Condos

By Sue Pascoe, Staff Writer

2010-07-29
A search and rescue operation at the Sea Ridge Condominiums, a gated community off of Palisades Drive in Pacific Palisades, ended with a 24-year-old construction worker being pronounced dead at 2 p.m.

The worker was trying to install a French drain when the dirt gave way, burying him.

Fire Station 69 received the initial call at 10:55 a.m. and was first on the scene. A call went out to search and rescue teams and more than 100 men were involved in the effort to try and rescue the victim.

Initially, there was hope that the man had found a pocket of air and could still be alive. Ventilation tubes were placed through a space drilled in block wall on the lower level to try and provide air.

After digging and shoring up the space, the top of the worker's white hardhat was seen and the coroner called.

Family waited on the hill above the condo for his body to be pulled from the 11-foot deep hole, in which he was entombed.

A complete story will appear in the August 5 issue.