|
MWA Workers Pull Man From Well |
|
|
|
|
Victim Was Trying to Clean Empty Tank With Bleach When He Lost Consciousness
By Katherine Rosenberg, Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.
Sep. 29--EL MIRAGE -- Three Mojave Water Agency crew members were in the right place at the right time Wednesday, and their efforts helped to rescue a man from an above-ground well. At about 11:30 a.m., the crew was approached by a frantic neighbor who said a man lost consciousness at the bottom of an empty 6-foot-deep water tank and was unable to get himself out, according to Michael Stevens, spokesman for the MWA. The men got into their trucks, drove to the home and saw what they described as a 3-foot platform with the 6-foot-deep tank on top of it, with a ladder and a 16-inch opening at the top. The victim, whose name was not released, had apparently crawled through the small opening and used a rope to lower himself to the bottom, where he began using bleach to clean the tank. Apparently, the fumes and the temperature combined to leave the man lightheaded, and for a short time, unconscious. "We knew if we were going to save this guy we didn't have much time and we had to act," said Chris Schutz, a water resources technician for MWA. "The temperature had to be at least 120 to 130 degrees. I don't think he would have lasted too much longer if help hadn't arrived." |
