BOCA RATON, Florida (2 June 2005) -- A 29-year-old laborer who apparently became trapped as he worked in an underground drainage pipe Thursday died inside the water-filled culvert despite the efforts of dozens of rescue workers. Ciro Cardenas Jr.'s family watched divers and rescue crews work for nearly five hours to try to locate him in the 215-foot pipe and adjoining retention pond. "You guys gotta go," his father shouted, clapping his hands, urging divers to continue their search. "Not my baby, not my baby," his mother cried. At about 11:40 a.m., Cardenas, equipped with scuba gear and a wet suit, descended into the 36-inch-diameter pipe at the construction site of Vistazo of Boca Raton at Spanish River Boulevard and Northwest Fifth Avenue, Boca Raton Fire-Rescue spokesman Frank Correggio said. A co-worker told officials Cardenas had planned a 10-minute dive, possibly to clean out the pipe. The co-worker called 911 after 20 minutes. At 4:25 p.m., rescue workers glimpsed his lifeless feet and hands on video captured by an underwater camera they had manipulated into the pipe. He was about 26 feet in, but divers couldn't reach him because a mound of silt and sand had accumulated between Cardenas and the mouth of the pipe, according to diver Tony Ojea, a Delray Beach fire-rescue lieutenant. Construction worker Robbie Young said he saw Cardenas just before he entered the pipe. "He waved at me," Young said. "It was like he was telling me goodbye. He never waved at me like that." Construction workers peered through concrete frames of the unfinished townhouses as Boca Raton police and Delray Beach fire-rescue divers searched the retention pond. | | Shortly after 2 p.m., rescuers plugged the pipe at the end where it drained into the pond and pumped water from the drain entrance, a manhole in the road. Worried about the stability of the plug, they decided against sending divers into the other end. A company called Well Cam sent the remote video camera down an 11-foot vertical portion of the pipe and then into the long horizontal portion. Ojea, who tried for 20 minutes to reach Cardenas, said visibility was hindered by sand and silt churning in the water. "I couldn't see my gauges in front of my face," he said. As workers drained the pond and a storm threatened, officials decided at 8:15 p.m. to retrieve Cardenas' body, which took them 16 minutes. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, investigator Anthony Campos said. The agency is investigating the safety practices of Cardenas' employer, though Campos would not name the company. Cardenas' friends at the scene said it was Shenandoah General Construction Co. of Pompano Beach. Lennar Corp. is building the townhouses. The agency charged Shenandoah with safety violations in 1982 after a pipeline accident killed a 24-year-old worker. The worker crawled inside to clean a drainage pipe and was overcome by methane and carbon monoxide gases. The agency also inspected a site at 2400 W. Broward Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale in November 2001 after receiving a safety complaint about Shenandoah, area director Luis Santiago said. No citations were issued SOURCE - Palm Beach Post |
