Man rescued after track hoe sinks

Rescuers worked for more than an hour and a half Monday morning digging a Georgia man out of the chest-deep mud he submerged into after his track hoe overturned at a work site on Beaver Dam Road.

The victim, a contractor with Arcilla Mining and Land Company, was working alone on the property around 10 a.m. when the track hoe slid into a large sinkhole and flooded with mud.

The mud filled the cab quickly, trapping him inside, said Gene Fulmer, assistant fire chief with the Center Fire Department.

Fulmer tried to wade out to the man, but he also began to sink in.

The assistant chief said he knew they had a big problem on their hands and would need a lot of help.

About 50 workers were involved in the rescue before the Georgia man was rescued.

"Everyone worked extremely well together," he said. "It really couldn't have gone any better."

The victim had been able to get to his radio before he sunk in too deep, but Fulmer said they knew they didn't have a lot of time to play with.

"I don't even know how he got to his radio," he said. "It's just lucky he did."

Crews with Aiken Public Safety, Couchton Fire and Rescue, Monetta Fire and the Savannah River Site assisted Center officials in what became a very tricky rescue, said Greg Bailey, a volunteer with Couchton's firefighters.

"The windshield caved in and he couldn't move," Bailey explained. "He was in a lot of pain because of the pressure from the mud, and he was very cold."

The mud was very thick, Bailey said.

"Ever get your shoe stuck in the mud?" he asked. "Same thing."

Except in this case, it was a large track hoe, which continued to sink.

Luckily, the boom on the equipment was extended and was caught on the edge of a ditch.

"If it hadn't been caught, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been alive when we got there," Fulmer said.

Volunteers ran out to a nearby lumber yard to get plywood to build a bridge out to the man and build a device to curb the flow of mud into the cab, officials explained.

They tried to pump the mud out but had very little success.

"It was going in faster than we could get it out," Fulmer said.

Rescuers began hand digging, using buckets and whatever else they could find to free the man.

"He was in serious danger," Fulmer added.

About an hour and a half later, however, the crews had hand-dug the man out.

"He walked out," Fulmer said. "He was checked out by EMS, but he was OK."

The victim's name was not available at press time.

Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com.