By Terry Tang
The Associated Press
Firefighters freed a construction worker trapped for hours under tons of concrete Tuesday in a collapsed parking garage.
The 28-year-old man was conscious and talking during the ordeal but had life-threatening injuries to his legs, said Mike Sandulak, a Fire Department division chief.
More than 100 firefighters from Phoenix and nearby agencies worked for more than six hours to pull the man from the debris.
The accident happened during demolition work on a parking garage at the Civic Center. The unidentified worker was operating a front-end loader when part of the structure collapsed.
Firefighters shored up the structure with wood, used air bags to stabilize the building and worked to cut reinforcing rods in the concrete so they could remove it.
The man’s father also had been working at the site, and Sandulak said he was allowed to stay close to his son while rescuers worked to free him. The man’s wife and other family members also were at the scene, and social workers were with them.
Firefighters gave the worker pain medication and started intravenous lines so they could give other medications and fluids.