Man buried alive in trench as his co-workers try to dig him out, AZ cops say
.png "Rescue teams worked in over 100-degree heat to save a man trapped in a 6-foot hole, fire officials said.")
A construction worker died after he was buried alive in a 6-foot trench in Arizona, fire officials and news outlets reported.
Rescuers were called at about 1:10 p.m. Monday, July 28, to a construction site, the Goodyear Fire Department said in a news release.
Other workers rushed to the hole where the man was buried “under a large amount of dirt” and tried to get him out, fire officials said.
Another rescue team joined efforts and tried to retrieve the man, but the trench continued to collapse on top of him, firefighters said.
Rescuers paused their efforts after 30 minutes to come up with a “more methodical recovery approach,” fire officials said.
His body was recovered from the hole at about 2 a.m. July 29, about 13 hours after he was first buried, officials said.
It was 111 degrees in Goodyear on July 28, according to AccuWeather.
The Goodyear Police Department identified the worker as 44-year-old Ronald Andrew Baquero Jr., KNXV-TV reported.
Goodyear is about a 20-mile drive west from downtown Phoenix.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Man buried alive in trench as his co-workers try to dig him out, AZ cops say."
