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A CONSTRUCTION worker tragically died after becoming trapped beneath six feet of collapsing earth in Arizona.
Ronald Andrew Baquera Jr., known as Ronnie, 44, was working on a site in Goodyear on Monday when a trench suddenly collapsed.
Emergency crews were called to a construction site near Citrus and Lower Buckeye roads soon after 1pm on July 28, reports ABC15 News.
They saw workers desperately using equipment to free Ronnie, who was trapped in a six-foot hole filled with fast-moving dirt.
When crews took over, they noticed that as more dirt was being pulled out, more collapsed inward.
Sensitive infrastructure on the site – including gas lines – meant crews had to use specialised equipment.
Tragically, within half an hour, the rescue turned into a gruelling 13-hour-long recovery mission.
At around 2am on July 29, crews retrieved his body from the trench.
Melissa Prado, the mum of two of Ronnie’s children, told ABC15 News that the family is shocked.
She said: “My daughter is really torn up. She spends almost every day with him. She’s a little distraught, and my son’s angry.
“They’re not really coping too well. His hobby was his children.”
Melissa said she is setting aside questions about what happened on that day.
“I’m sure it will come out,” she said. “But I don’t care to know right now.”
Ronnie leaves behind two sons and a daughter.
His childhood friend Nate Costly organised a vigil at the site on Friday.
People gathered to pay their respects to a man who would “fix things with laughter or his hands”, as gospel singer Shatera Williams described him.
Nate wrote in a tribute posted on Facebook: “Ronnie was a loving father and a loyal friend – brutally honest, endlessly caring, and unforgettable.”
The state’s worker-safety agency, ADOSH, told ABC15 that an investigation has been launched into whether there were safety violations at the site.
The outlet added that a safety report could take four to five months to complete.
Just days later, Fred Gonzalez and his 18-year-old son were working in a trench just feet from the one that collapsed after being called to inspect nearby piping.
Fred told local outlet AZ Central: “It definitely feels eerie. We all are involved in the underground industry.
“The trench they were working in was shored up with a metal box-like structure. It can happen.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Ronnie’s family with funeral and memorial expenses.
It comes as a child died after becoming trapped in a storm drain during flash floods while playing outside with friends.
Mason Kearns, 13, from Mount Airy, Maryland, was swept into the pipe on July 31 – just 20 feet from his home – after being caught in strong floodwaters.
