Construction worker dies after being pulled from storm drain in NW Dade
MIAMI - A worker who was rushed to the hospital Thursday morning after he was pulled from a storm drain in northwest Miami-Dade has died.
"I felt sad, but it wasn't for me. It was for his family, he's my uncle," Danny Euceda tells us. The two work together. Danny said when his uncle was pulled from the drain pipe he was unconscious. "He's at the hospital. They said he's not doing well," he said.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said around 10:30 a.m. they received a call about a construction worker who had been missing for more than 40 minutes.
"They noticed that his bubbles, about 5 minutes, they noticed he wasn't communicating with them. They called 911 and they tried to locate them as well. His total dive, I understand was 40 minutes," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Rogelio Vandamas.
When fire crews arrived at the construction site of a new housing development, in the 2400 block of NW 119th Street, they immediately began their search for the man who was a construction diver and was working in a drain pipe.
Six rescue divers entered the water. "Our dive lights are pretty much ineffective due to the sediment in the water and our divers were diving by feel which is how they located him inside the pipe," Chief Vandamas said.
They eventually found the man and were able to bring him out. He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he later died.
Police said this is now a death investigation. The cause of death will be determined by the autopsy.
