Worker Trapped 2 Hours by Cave-In at Hotel Site

A 25-year-old construction worker suffered minor injuries Thursday after being trapped for more than two hours in a cave-in at a Glendale hotel construction site where a similar accident in August killed another worker.

Two dozen firefighters and city crews worked carefully to free John Jehlik of Long Beach, who was trapped chest-deep in dirt at the bottom of a 15-foot-deep sinkhole on Glenoaks Boulevard.

On Aug. 10, Enrique Ayala, a 33-year-old drilling company foreman, was buried head-first in another cave-in. A series of trenches is being dug alongside the Verdugo Wash and filled with concrete to anchor an 18-story Red Lion hotel.

Cal/OSHA concluded that no negligence was involved in Ayala’s death, said spokesman Rick Rice. But after sending two investigators to the scene Thursday, the state ordered the site closed until officials meet today with companies working on the project, Rice said.