The construction worker who was trapped in a trench next to Greenbelt Lake has been released from the hospital, according to the Prince George’s County Fire Department. On November 16 at 1 p.m., firefighters and medics responded to a call for help. The worker was trapped “chest-deep in a 12-foot trench,” wrote Mark Brady of PGCFD. The trench was next to the construction site near the playground at Buddy Attick Park. About 60 firefighters, medics and technical rescue personnel worked for about five hours freeing the man, Brady said.
Note: Being trapped in mud, especially if it extends to the chest is life threatening. Partly there is the cold water in the mud that is lowering body temperature resulting in hypothermia, but also each time the individual exhales, the mud around the body takes up the space freed by the reduction in girth of the chest as air goes out, making the next inhalation more difficult. Extraction is difficult because the mud (particularly heavy clay like Greenbelt’s), is highly viscous and exerts considerable suction on the person’s body. Digging threatens to dislodge more mud, and dug-out mud is replaced by nearby mud. Pulling them out is difficult because the suction is so extreme. The force required to drag them out would injure them.
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health records indicates that such incidents are not a frequent cause of death – with falls, electrocution and incidents involving heavy equipment being far more common.