A Mountain View Fire Department rescue team pulled an apartment maintenance worker from a tunnel that had collapsed under the building Monday, trapping him there for over an hour, a fire department spokesman said.
The worker, who lives in the complex at 1901 Montecito Ave., had dug a 10-foot tunnel under the building to work on some piping, according to fire department spokesman Lynn Brown. The 55-year-old man was in the tunnel by himself when it collapsed. He was not seriously injured.
“I don’t know if it was because of the rain or the conditions of the soil, but it slid in on him,” Brown said.
The man was able to call 911 using his cell phone, and rescue crews received the call at about 1:45 p.m. The team followed procedures for a “confined space rescue,” extracting the man at 3:15 p.m., Brown said.
“It wasn’t a life-threatening situation. He just couldn’t get out,” Brown said.
— Molly Tanenbaum<$>
