All workers rescued after Wilmington tunnel collapse

LA tunnel collapse under investigation

A sewage tunnel collapsed in Los Angeles County, trapping more than 30 works more than 400 feet underground. Thankfully, none of the workers were seriously injured.

LOS ANGELES - All workers are accounted for after an industrial tunnel collapsed in Wilmington on Wednesday night.

What we know:

The Los Angeles Fire Department reported a collapsed tunnel at a work site in Wilmington, a neighborhood located in the Los Angeles' South Bay region, around 8 p.m. Wednesday night, near the intersection of W. Lomita Boulevard and S. Figueroa Street.

According to officials, 31 total workers were trapped inside the tunnel, and all have been safely removed. None of the workers had any visible injuries. 

Dozens safe after tunnel collapse

Officials across Los Angeles County breath a collective sigh of relief after learning that all of the workers in the Wilmington tunnel were safely rescued from the underground collapse.

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More than 100 LAFD rescuers were on the scene, working for nearly two hours to pull the workers out of the tunnel.

The backstory:

Officials said the tunnel is part of a municipal sewage project. The tunnel collapsed about six miles from where the workers went in. The LAFD said that after the collapse, some of the workers were able to climb over a tall pile of dirt and find their coworkers.

What we don't know:

It's unclear how the tunnel collapsed. While the LAFD said that none of the rescued workers appeared to have any injuries, about two dozen were being evaluated by paramedics as of 10 p.m.

‘We are blessed that all of those men made it out and made it home to their families’

What they're saying:

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass shared her sigh of relief after learning that no injuries were reported in the incident.

"We're all blessed today in Los Angeles," Bass said on Wednesday. "No one injured. Everyone's safe. I am feeling very, very good that this is a great outcome in what started as a very scary evening."

Supervisor Hahn, who serves on the board of directors for LA County Sanitation Districts, released the following statement:

"We are blessed that all of those men made it out and made it home to their families. Most people in the Harbor Area communities didn’t even realize that this tunnel was being bored beneath them, but these men go to work every night to build this critical infrastructure project for our region. I am so grateful that they are home safe tonight.

As the sanitation district we will be looking into exactly what caused this, and will do everything we can to prevent anything else like this from happening again."