BROOKLYN — A construction worker had to be hauled out by rescue workers after being buried up to his chest in a caved-in trench in Sheepshead Bay Monday afternoon, FDNY officials said.
The unidentified man, who officials said was in his 20s, got stuck in a 10-foot-deep hole that was part of an excavation behind a two-family home on East 24th Street near Avenue X about 2 p.m., fire officials said.
Doris Ergas, who lives next door, heard the man's cries for help as she came home to pick up her daughter.
"He called out for help in Spanish," she said. "He was saying he couldn't breathe. He looked like he was very scared."
The Fire Department was able to get the man out by 2:19 p.m. and he was taken to Kings County Hospital "alert and conscious" but in serious condition, a spokesman from the FDNY said.
Mikhail Unik, the listed owner of the property, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Department of Buildings issued a permit on Aug. 12 to convert the first floor to commercial space, according to public records.
Ergas said that the man was standing in the hole when the earth came in on top of him.
After he was freed, he asked her for his cellphone.
"He wanted to call his wife and tell her he was all right," she said.
