At least 31 workers were able to escape after tunnel collapse in Wilmington
By David González
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ByDavid González and ABC7.com staff (KABC) — Over two dozen workers were able to safely escape following a tunnel collapse in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles Wednesday night, and now the largest construction project in L.A. County is on hold.
The incident was reported around 8 p.m. in the 1700 block of N. Figueroa Street and involved at least 31 industrial tunnel workers, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
More than 100 LAFD personnel, including Urban Search and Rescue teams and Mayor Karen Bass, responded to the scene. The workers were able to emerge from the collapsed tunnel on their own, according to fire officials.
It was a huge LAFD response because it had the potential of being a major multi-day tunnel rescue incident.
AIR7 footage showed workers being brought out of the tunnel in a cage hoisted up by a crane.
LAFD said that trapped workers were able to scramble over a 12-15-foot tall pile of loose soil to meet several coworkers on the other side of the collapse and be shuttled, several at a time, by a tunnel vehicle to the tunnel’s entry.
L.A. County officials noted that if it wasn’t for Wednesday’s near-miss, most people would not know that the massive $700 million project is being built underground.
“Most people in San Pedro had no idea that this tunnel was being bored beneath them… for a very important project,” said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who also sits on the board of the L.A. County Sanitation District. “… Anytime you tunnel, whether it’s a Metro project or a sanitation project, the risks are there.”
The tunnel is being built from the A.K. Warren Water Resource Facility to San Pedro. It was expected to be completed and active by 2028, but the project is now on hold as the investigation continues into what went wrong.
“This accident will set the project back. There are several things that have to happen. Not until we have answers, not until we have engineering understanding, not until we have construction understanding of what happened will any work proceed,” said Michel Chee with the L.A. County Sanitation District.
No injuries were reported. However, 27 of the workers were medically evaluated by LAFD paramedics at the scene.
“Tonight, we were lucky,” said LAFD Interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva. “It was determined that a structure failure of the tunnel lining failed approximately five to six miles in.”
“We had an opportunity to speak with them. We had an opportunity to make sure that they were able to reach their family members. Their family members knew they were safe,” said Bass.
The collapse of the 18-foot diameter tunnel, being constructed for municipal wastewater management by L.A. County Sanitation, occurred at an underground horizontal excavation site about five to six miles south of the sole entry to the tunnel, according to LAFD. Villanueva said a “structure failure of the tunnel lining” was to blame.
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