FILLMORE : Trench Cave-In Kills Ranch Hand

A Fillmore ranch hand died after being buried alive Thursday when a seven-foot-deep irrigation trench collapsed on him, authorities said.

Santiago Casas, 58, was buried beneath three feet of dirt and mud for about 15 minutes before rescuers reached him and took him to Ventura County Medical Center, Deputy Coroner Dale Zentzis said, adding that Casas died during surgery three hours after the 10:25 a.m. accident. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health later sent inspectors to the citrus farm on California 126 to investigate, said Rick Rise, division spokesman in San Francisco.

Rivcom Corp., which operates the ranch four miles west of Fillmore, could face severe fines if the trench walls were not braced as required by industrial safety laws, Rise said.

At the time of the accident, Casas was repairing an irrigation pipe at the bottom of the wet trench, which was about 4 feet wide by 20 feet long, Fillmore Fire Chief Pat Askren said.

Casas was crouched down welding an under-section of the pipe when the sandy walls of the trench gave way and covered him, Askren said.

A co-worker began digging furiously to find Casas while a second co-worker drove to the nearest phone three miles away, Askren said. Rescue workers dug Casas out about 15 minutes later, but their efforts to revive him were complicated by the presence of mud in his air passages, Askren said.