Water Sweeps Man to Death in O.C. Pipeline

SAN CLEMENTE — A construction worker was swept to his death Wednesday in an underground pipeline being laid beneath Coast Highway when a backhoe accidentally broke a nearby high-pressure water line, sending a torrent cascading toward the trapped man.

Alonso Marquez Miramontes, 28, of Bell Gardens was working about 40 feet inside the narrow pipe about 7:20 a.m. when the unrelenting flood of water suddenly bore down on him.

After a frantic, two-hour search, rescue crews located Miramontes inside the 27-inch-wide pipe nearly 250 feet from the spot where he had been working.

Officials said it was unclear whether he simply had been pushed like a cork by the rushing waters, which roared for about 10 minutes before the breached line was shut down, or had tried to crawl in a futile attempt to escape.

Miramontes was pronounced dead by paramedics soon after they reached him inside the pipeline. An autopsy will be performed today, said Jacque Berndt, an Orange County coroner’s deputy. Berndt said it is “highly probable” that Miramontes drowned, based on “the lack of trauma” to his body.

The flooding touched off a furious search by rescue workers, who dug a hole with backhoes through the highway about 200 feet north of the accident site and broke into the underground pipeline, but failed to locate Miramontes in time to save his life.

Rescue workers, wearing lighted helmets, were hampered by the small diameter of the pipe and were forced to crawl on their stomachs, pulling air tanks attached to skateboards behind them.

“They were running into problems with debris and water in the pipe that made the work very difficult,” said Jack Stubbs, a spokesman for the San Clemente Fire Department’s paramedic rescue team.

The accident occurred near the intersection of Camino Capistrano, where Coast Highway runs parallel to the nearby Amtrak railroad tracks. Because of the possibility that vibrations from trains could jeopardize the delicate digging operations during the rescue, all Amtrak trains running along the line were halted for more than an hour.

Early on, several co-workers tried to crawl into the pipeline in a desperate attempt to save Miramontes, but the narrow opening proved too difficult to negotiate.

Miramontes and a crew from Cal-Fon Engineering & Construction of Bloomington, Calif. were installing a new water distribution main meant to serve the entire South County.

The accident occurred after the construction worker had crawled into the pipe to help a welder on the outside who was fastening a seam between two sections.

A backhoe operator was digging through the highway in front of them, clearing a site for the next section of pipe, when he inadvertently punctured another water pipeline--a high-pressure, eight-inch distribution line that serves nearby homes.

The welder managed to escape injury himself and jumped to Miramontes’ aid, but to no avail, Stubbs said.

“The welder immediately saw what was happening and tried to shore up the pipe with a board” across its mouth, Stubbs said. “But it flooded too quickly. He couldn’t stop the flow.”

Officials from the South Coast Water District, which is installing the $6.2-million, eight-mile pipeline linking Laguna Beach to San Clemente, said the broken water line that flooded the trench surprised the workers. A construction crew had tested the area, drilling vertical holes in the highway in a method called “pot-holing,” and had found no other line, said Michael Dunbar, the district general manager.

“It’s unusual to hit a utility after pot-holing,” Dunbar said. “The service line was simply not where it was supposed to be.”

A grim-faced crew of fellow Cal-Fon workers and officials refused any comment as they watched the futile search. Miramontes’ brother, Margarito, was also working on the scene, but was unhurt in the accident.

Cal-Fon officials in their Bloomington office also refused to comment.

Richard Stephens, an official of Cal/OSHA, a state watchdog agency that oversees the construction industry, said the company has been investigated for work-site complaints seven times since 1983.

Construction Tragedy

A construction worker was killed Wednesday morning when he was trapped in a flooded pipeline beneath Coast Highway in San Clemente. Rescue workers crawled through a 27-inch pipeline in an unsuccessful attempt to save his life.

1. Backhoe breaks high-pressure water line, flooding trench where new pipeline is being installed.

2. Worker was helping a welder fasten a seam between two sections of pipe when a flood of water rushed through.

3. Rescuers dig 15 feet through Coast Highway to buried and enter tunnel with lighted helmets and air tanks.

4. Rescue workers locate body of trapped worker two hours later.