Worker Rescued After Being Impaled in Pit

Los Angeles County firefighters rescued a 25-year-old construction worker who plunged about halfway down a 46-foot excavation pit Tuesday in Rolling Hills Estates before being impaled on a steel reinforcing bar that stopped his fall.

The man landed about 25 feet down, impaled on a piece of steel that entered his armpit and went through his shoulder, county Fire Department Inspector Scott Smith said. The incident occurred about 12:45 p.m. as a drilling company was digging holes for the foundation of an apartment building.

The worker was rescued at 3:02 p.m. after a firefighter was lowered head-first to reach him and used a cutting torch to sever the nearly inch-thick steel rod. The worker, whose name was not released, was lifted to the surface and taken by helicopter to County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center with the steel bar embedded in his shoulder. He was in stable condition, Smith said.