Gravel pit collapses, traps 4 workers

2 rescued, 2 still stuck; incident began when 2 got buried up to necks

Two people were rescued and another two remained trapped late Thursday in a gravel pit near Placitas.

Sandoval County Fire Department Chief James Maxon said he was the first on scene at West Materials Co.’s Lafarge Gravel Mine, where four workers became trapped around 5 p.m.

He said two workers were buried up to their necks, a third up to the shoulders and the fourth up to the waist.

“My biggest priority was making sure the two buried up to their shoulders were breathing,” Maxon said.

The incident began when two workers got covered up to their necks in a collapse at the site, he said. Two workers tried to rescue them and got caught in a collapse as well.

“We are almost four hours into this incident, we have two patients that have been extricated and have been taken to the hospital, one by air, one by ground,” Maxon said late Thursday. “We are slowly, methodically, digging out the other two.”

There were about 50 rescue personnel at the scene from the Sandoval County, Rio Rancho, Corrales and Albuquerque fire departments.

“This is probably a oncein-a-career type rescue for the firefighters here on this scene,” Maxon said. “This is a very complex scene, and it’s very dangerous for, not only the patients, but us.”

Despite that, he said everybody was in good spirits and the two workers who remained trapped were conscious and speaking with rescue personnel.