Buried alive in a sewer
A routine job left Brandon fighting for his life Brandon Grech, 20, Whittlesea, Vic
Tightening my boots, I jumped out of the ute and instantly mud splattered up my legs.
‘Just another day as a plumber,’ my workmate Benny joked.
Today we had a job doing the sewerage for a new housing development.
But I was daydreaming about being at home with my partner Rhiannon, 24, and our little girl, Tahlia, 15 months.
With another bub on the way, our family was growing.
Slinging tools across my shoulder, I threw on my hard hat as Benny and I headed into the underground sewer.
Climbing up and down the hole, barely big enough for two, I clung tight to the wet bars of the metal ladder as we did the pipe work.
Alone at the bottom, I was focused on tightening some pipes in a crouching position when I heard a commotion from the top of the trench.
‘Grechy!’ someone screamed from above.
Before I had a chance to look up, a barrage of mud and debris came raining down on top of me.
Crash!
Once it stopped falling, I blinked open my eyes to see that one of the sewer walls had collapsed.
The bottom half of the wall had come out, leaving the top half unsupported and me, anchored in a crouched position. Then, before I could try and pull myself up, the rest of the wall slid out.
Closing my eyes again, I felt the wet sludge rapidly surround my body, right up to my chin.
Filling every pore with heavy muck, the weight compressed my chest with every breath.
I’ve been buried alive,
I realised. I need to get out!
Opening my hands, I tried to propel myself upwards, but I couldn’t even wriggle my fingers.
‘I can’t move!’ I screamed to my buddies on top of the trench.
Using my body weight, I tried to throw my shoulders from side to side to loosen the mud’s grip on me.
But it just seeped deeper into my skin.
Feeling a thud on the ladder, I recognised Benny’s boots as they landed beside me.
He’d come down the ladder to check on me.
‘Are you alright mate?’ he asked, worryingly.
‘I will be when I get out,’ I replied.
Bending down next to me Benny quickly began scooping some of the mud around me and dumping it in a bucket.
Then my colleague
Richard climbed down beside me, too.
‘The fire brigade are on their way,’ he said.
Holding the wall in place with some materials from the site, he made sure the second wall wouldn’t collapse on me.
I can’t believe my two mates are risking their lives for mine, I thought, grateful to both of them.
Seeing the flicker of blue and red, I realised the firies had arrived.
‘I’m Damian,’ a friendly firefighter said, climbing down into the trench.
Benny had freed my hands, but I was still buried to my waist.
‘You’ll need to dig yourself
The weight compressed my chest with every breath
out,’ Damian told me.
Because of the unpredictable nature of the trench, I was the only one who could feel movement in the mud beneath me.
Damian explained that it was safest for me to remove small amounts at a time.
With my senses on red alert, I scooped handfuls of sludge into the bucket he held.
As time ticked by, my legs turned numb and I eventually lost all feeling in them.
‘I just want to go home to my girls,’ I said to Damian.
‘We will both be out of here soon,’ he reassured me.
Keeping me constantly chatting, Damian filled every silence, calming my nerves.
Looking down I could see the tops of my legs.
My smile stretched from ear to ear.
Finally, I was almost free! Fanning out my fingers, I placed them in the mud beside my hips and tried to pull myself out.
‘I’m still stuck, I need you to pull me out,’ I told him.
Grabbing two slings, he wrapped one around my shoulders and one underneath my arms.
‘I’m ready,’ I cried.
‘Three, two, one, pull!’ Damian screamed.
The slings sliced into my skin, but I didn’t budge.
We tried twice more but the mud was too strong.
‘One more go,’ I said, and finally he hauled me upwards.
Landing on my feet my adrenaline was the only thing keeping my knees from buckling.
Spending almost two hours buried underground, I was raced to hospital where I was given morphine for the pain.
Incredibly, I was well enough to have a shower to scrub the mud off.
Rhiannon, my dad Joe and brother Jason, 25, were in my room when I got out.
‘I thought I’d never see you again,’ I said to Rhiannon, giving her a kiss.
Six months on, and now with our brand-new bub Zahli, two months, keeping us occupied, it feels great to be alive.
Sometimes I can’t sleep at night thinking about that awful day and what could have happened.
I’m just so grateful for everyone who risked their lives to save me.