By BENITA Y. WILLIAMS
The Kansas City Star
Clutching a cane with one hand, Eric Simmons extended the other to greet the men who delicately dug him and a co-worker from a collapsed trench two months ago.
Im just thankful for all of you guys, for getting us out, Simmons said. It was probably traumatic for you too. Im just glad to be alive.
For the first time on Wednesday, Simmons and Jeff Wright met their rescuers at a ceremony at the Olathe Fire Department honoring the emergency workers.
One by one the emergency workers filed into the room and past the seated Wright and Simmons, giving the men an opportunity to shake the hands that pulled them to safety.
The two men were installing sewer pipe Sept. 27 at a residential subdivision under development near 164th Street and Switzer Road in Overland Park when the 20-foot-deep trench collapsed.
I took about two steps before it completely poured in, Wright said. I was stopped in midstep with one leg behind me.
It took rescuers more than 90 minutes to free the men, said Olathe Fire Chief George Bentley. Johnson County Med-Act and firefighters, some with expertise in trench rescue, from Olathe, Consolidated Fire District No. 2 and Overland Park took part.
The men were trapped nearly chest-deep but remained alert and talking as rescuers worked to free them. Little by little, rescuers used hand tools to move the fallen earth.
At one point I couldnt breathe, said Simmons, who was given oxygen. They (rescuers) held me up and gave me water.
During the ordeal, both men thought of their families. Simmons, 43, is a single father who lives in Shawnee. Wright, 36, lives with his wife and four children in Freeman, Mo.
They were taken to area hospitals as soon as they were freed. Simmons suffered leg and knee fractures and now uses a cane. Wright is walking with crutches as he recovers from a crushed pelvis and bruised hips.
The men were working for R.A.B. Inc., an affiliate of Bazin Excavating in Stilwell. An Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection is ongoing.