A man is recovering after he was trapped in a collapsed trench for about an hour Saturday evening in Columbia, Maryland, police said.
The man was digging a trench for a water pipe in the 6400 block of Barchink Place when the trench collapsed, burying him up to his chest, just before 7:45 p.m.
Howard County Fire and EMS workers with special equipment responded to the trapped man, spreading pads on the ground to distribute the weight of the earth and stop any further collapse.
The man was able to help with his own extrication, and he was rescued at about 8:40 p.m. He was sent to a nearby hospital.
