Trapped in a hole for 5 hours, Loris man rescued

A man was flown to the hospital by helicopter Monday night after rescue crews spent more than five hours freeing him from a 10-foot deep hole in the ground in Loris.

Horry County Fire Rescue was called about 5:30 p.m. Monday to a property off Red Bluff Road just outside the Loris area after the injured man’s family called first responders, according to Assistant Chief Justin Gibbins with Horry County Fire Rescue.

The man was using a tractor to dig a hole on private property, and Gibbins said the man got into the hole for an unknown reason and became stuck when unstable soil caved in on him.

“The wall of the hole fell in on him, trapping him,” said Gibbins.

The man was trapped for about five hours as more than 50 rescue personnel members, including crews from HCFR, Horry County Public Works, North Myrtle Beach Fire and Myrtle Beach Fire departments, worked to free him.

A medical helicopter was provided from Whiteville, N.C., for a flight to Grand Strand Medical Center. The man was in stable condition when he was flown and was cared for while crews worked to free him, Gibbins said.

He was treated for dehydration and was at risk for a condition called “compartment syndrome,” – a dangerous and potentially deadly condition that can result when parts of the body are deprived of normal blood flow, Gibbins said.

The rescue process was a labor-intensive one that required trench panels being put in place and safety measures to be taken before the man could be dug out by hand, Gibbins said.

Crews used a vacuum truck provided by Horry County Public Works that’s typically used for cleaning out storm drains, pumps to drain the dangerous groundwater flooding the hole, and shovels and buckets to dig out the mounds of mud and remove it from the area for the man who was buried up to his chest in mud and up to his chin in ground water, Gibbins said.

Only certain rescuers were allowed in the hole with the man because 40 hours of extra training must be done to certify a person to aid in a trench rescue, and the qualified rescuer must also complete eight hours of re-certification to keep up their training on the rare-type of rescue, authorities said.

Gibbins said there were rescuers on scene who had gone through five years of re-certification who had never used their training before Monday night when they saved a man’s life.

There are trenches all over Horry County, typically worked around by professional crews, said Gibbins; and it’s seldom that someone becomes endangered in a situation involving a hole or trench, but crews must be trained to save a life when someone does need this rare type of rescue.