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Man injured in construction site fall recovering in hospital

Jan 15, 2018 | 3:40 PM

LETHBRIDGE – DeGraaf Excavating LTD. says an individual injured from a fall at a construction site at the north end of 43 Street Monday, Jan. 15, is recovering in hospital.

They noted that while it is their worksite as part of an irrigation canal project – the City of Lethbridge owns the land – the man injured was inspecting the site and is not employed by them. They added that further information could not be provided, due to an ongoing investigation into the matter.

The Lethbridge Fire Department’s rope rescue team was called into action, after the man fell approximately 20 feet down a culvert and had to be extricated through a tunnel.

“The Technical Rescue team was activated, and did an assessment of the whole scene,” explained platoon chief Rob Chollak, after the man was safely transported from the scene.

“Instead of bringing him out of the hole that he fell in, they made the determination to bring him out quite a way down the road,” he continued. “The reason why is the access to where they brought him out is much larger, it’s a pipe that we can walk in [compared to] the tube that he fell in which was much smaller.”

Chollak says that made it a lot safer, easier and quicker to get him out.

Multiple crews from the Lethbridge Fire Department, Lethbridge Police Service, and Emergency Management Services were called in to assist with the rescue.

A stretcher with wheels was sent down into the culvert, which Chollak says was used to get him from one end of the underground area to the other due to injuries he suffered.

“Then we had to bring him up above ground, which was done with the technical rescue team using harnesses and pulleys, and they elevated him out of the ground,” Chollak said.