KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A contract worker examining a sewer drain was swept through the 24-inch pipe Tuesday morning – then found alive about 90 minutes later after traveling more than a mile through the system.

A city worker and firefighters heard the 27-year-old man scream for help, popped open a manhole and found him about 9:30 a.m., curled up in a fetal position at the bottom of a 12-foot-deep chamber.

Rescue workers called in an air ambulance to take the critically injured man to a hospital. They loaded him into the helicopter about 10 a.m., nearly two hours after he vanished.

He was suffering from hypothermia, and he may have ingested sewage, said South Metropolitan Fire District Chief Randy Adams.

The 5-foot-8, 127-pound man was wearing a safety harness. It was unclear he got swept into the sanitary sewer system. Other workers saw it happen and called for help. Rescuers asked the city to shut down water pumps while they searched the system.

Rescuers using city maps of the sewer system began searching the area, removing manhole covers as they worked their way north and south from where the man vanished.

Three rescuers heard his cries while searching near a lake at the Creekmoor Golf Course. Rescuers lowered a firefighter into the sewer chamber to get the man out.

The man, who lives in the Lake of the Ozarks area, works for Rosetta Construction of Springfield, Mo., authorities said.

Officials with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration were on the scene.

 

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