Two construction workers are dead after a trench collapsed and they became trapped at a Catonsville home on Friday.
The Baltimore County Fire Department confirmed that both trapped workers died at around 7:30 p.m. after nearly seven hours of rescue efforts.
The victims’ bodies have been extricated from the trench. Officials identified them as 24-year-old Emerson Amestica and 32-year-old Wilmer Barzallo.
About 50 to 60 rescuers rushed to the scene in the 500 block of Academy Road just after 11:30 a.m.
Investigators said the workers were reinforcing a brick retaining wall when it collapsed, trapping them in the 6-foot trench.
Residents felt the collapse that sounded “like a small earthquake” before hearing screams.
“It was clear that something bad had happened,” one said.
