Farmer Killed When Trench Collapses

Last Update: 11/09/2009 2:31 am

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Worth Co. Trench Fatal

JOICE, IA---A North Iowa farmer dies when a wall of dirt falls on top of him.

It happened sometime Saturday afternoon, just East of the community of Joice, in Worth County.

Joice Fire Chief Mark Delawyer said the unidentified 79 year old man went out to fix a field tile sometime around 2 or 3 p.m., on Saturday afternoon.

His wife could not get ahold of him, so she called a neighbor and when he could not find him, he called 911.

Emergency crews were called out at around 8:40 p.m.

They found a backhoe; its engine was still idling.

They discovered a trench that had caved in on the farm.

The trench was in a field.

He was digging close to Evergreen Avenue, between 400 and 410th Street.

He had been working at the bottom of the drainage trench, which is about six to seven feet deep.

All rescue crews could see was a ladder sticking out of it and part of a shovel handle.

They couldn't find the farmer under the dirt so, so firefighters began digging by hand

A neighbor showed up and used the backhoe to pull away a bank from the firefighters.

They found him at the bottom of the trench.

Delawyer said a helicopter flight nurse determined the man had no pulse and was dead.

Worth County authorities are not releasing the victim's name until all family members have been notified.

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