An investigation is underway to determine what led to a tunnel, under construction for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, to partially collapse in Wilmington on Wednesday night, July 9 — prompting the rescue of 31 employees and a halt to work for an undetermined amount of time.
None of the employees had visible injuries, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
More than 100 firefighters responded around 8 p.m. near Figueroa Street and Lomita Boulevard, including members of an urban search-and-rescue team. By 9:15 p.m., all of the workers were safely out of the tunnel, Humphrey said.
The workplace site is east of the 110 Freeway and north of Pacific Coast Highway.
The tunnel, which measures 18 feet in diameter, is the $630 million Clearwater Tunneling Project and is being constructed to move wastewater from Carson to San Pedro. It collapsed about five to six miles south of the tunnel’s only access point, Humphrey said.
The workers had water up to their mid-thighs, said Interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Of the 31 workers, 27 were trapped by the partial collapse of the tunnel, and then four others went in to try to help them, Villanueva said.
“A section that they had already built had squeezing ground and had a partial collapse,” said Robert Ferrante, lead engineer with the L.A. County Sanitation Districts. “It didn’t completely fill the tunnel.”
That allowed the men to get through that area and get to a vehicle to get back to the shaft.
“There was only one way out at that time to get them back here to the shaft,” Ferrante said. “It was very scary. We’re very fortunate no one was hurt, and the response was phenomenal to get everyone checked out.”
Investigators believe some of the trapped workers pushed over a pile of loose soil between 12 feet and 15 feet tall to meet some of their co-workers on the other side and be shuttled several at a time to the access point on the surface.
Workers were brought out of the tunnel in a cage hoisted up by a crane.
“These workers are highly skilled men,” said L.A. Councilman Tim McOsker, whose district includes Wilmington. “This is a highly technical, difficult project and they knew exactly what to do. They knew how to secure themselves; they knew how to get to the (vehicle) to get them back.”
The workers were 400 feet below ground, operating a boring machine and working in shifts, driving a vehicle to and from the machine, Ferrante said.
Before workers started escaping the tunnel collapse, worried family members had gathered nearby.
Maria Orozco arrived to West Q Street and Figueroa Street and had her hands pressed against her chest. Following behind was her daughter’s family from Los Angeles.
Orozco has three sons who are working on the project.
“I’m waiting for my sons,” she said in Spanish. “I need to know for sure if they’re safe; I have three sons working here, and they’re not answering their phones. …
“I was at church and today; it was my daughter’s turn to pray and I asked her to pray for my sons,” she said. “I think in that moment was when they were facing this problem.
“During church, I don’t have my phone on but once I checked it I saw I had many missed calls,” she said. “Then my daughter let me know that something was wrong. I really felt it in my heart that something happened, that’s when she let me know that the tunnel had collapsed.
“The truth is I’m feeling a lot of sadness at the moment, because I’m yet to know how they’re doing,” she said.
Later, she said, “One of my sons called me to let me know that they had gotten out.”
The three sons live in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Signal Hill and all have families of their own, she said. She has twins who are 35 and the youngest son who is 30.
“They have their own children as well who were worried,” Orozco said. “I want to see them, I want to see them.”
Chief Villanueva reassured Orozco that all the workers were fine and were being seen by paramedics.
“Don’t worry,” he told Orozco. “I saw all of them, and it looks like they’re all fine.”
The mother let out a sigh of relief.
Authorities said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the collapse, which is standard with workplace accidents, in addition to the Sanitation Districts itself.
“We don’t have any information about the nature of the collapse yet,” said Michael Chee, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts.
“What I just got a report on is that 31 crew members were down in the tunnel,” he said. “They have all been extricated safely. There are no significant or major injuries that I know of.
“We understand that our crew that was working down in the tunnel boring machine, which is approximately five miles heading towards the coast from this point, and it was designed to build the tunnel about seven miles long before it reached the coast.”
Mayor Karen Bass said she talked to workers and said they were relieved and had been calling their families.
Planning for the tunneling project began as early as 2006. The aim was to replace two aging underground wastewater pipes, which were installed in 1937 and in 1958. The project was officially approved in 2021 and expected to take approximately three to four years to complete.
The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts will conduct one probe that will be done with Flatiron West and Dragados USA, which are constructing what is called the Clearwater Tunnel.
“The investigation will look at the safety, engineering and structural integrity of the tunnel and has already begun,” the Sanitation Districts said in a statement. “Clearwater Tunnel operations have been halted while this investigation takes place and there is no timeframe for how long the process will take.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who also sits on the Sanitations Districts board, said the the agency “will do everything we can to prevent anything else like this from happening again.”
Staff writers Mona Darwish, Kristy Hutchings and Nathaniel Percy contributed to this story.
