Workers at a Los Angeles Harbor region subterranean construction site escaped serious harm Wednesday night, after they became briefly trapped.  

The Los Angeles Fire Department was first summoned at 7:58 PM on July 9, 2025, to assist workers stranded at the Los Angeles Effluent Outfall Tunnel Project near 1701 Figueroa Street in Wilmington. 

As LAFD dispatchers learned that a sizable number of construction workers may have been trapped in the horizontal excavation several miles from the nearest access portal, they escalated the incident to a major emergency tunnel rescue, bringing more than 100 LAFD responders and specialized equipment from across the City, including LAFD Urban Search and Rescue teams specially trained for confined space subterranean rescue.

With early reports of a tunnel collapse behind as many as 15 workers at least five miles into the 18-foot-diameter bore, Los Angeles Fire Department responders prepared for an extended rescue operation with complex logistics as additional LAFD resources, including search and rescue canines, unmanned aerial systems (drones), hazardous materials specialists and nearly two dozen paramedic ambulance teams stood at the ready to address the unique rescue and medical needs typical of such a crisis.

As construction officials formally polled and tallied their workforce, it was determined that more than thirty workers had been operating along the nearly six mile length of the tunnel when the incident occurred, with several remaining on the "safe" side of what was soon confirmed to be a partial rather than full tunnel collapse, bringing a 12-to-15-foot tall pile of loose soil and debris into a large but undetermined length of the solitary passageway.

With significant effort, all of the stranded but thankfully uninjured workers were able to scramble to safety one-at-a-time across the large section of piled soil and debris prior to the arrival of LAFD rescuers. Colleagues then ferried them more than five miles in a tunnel transport vehicle to the safety of the access portal. 

A total of 31 uninjured workers from throughout the tunnel system were brought to safely by their colleagues. None of the men had visible injury or medical complaint. Following an on-scene examination by LAFD Paramedics, they were all released at the scene. 

No other injuries were reported.  Cal/OSHA was notified of the workplace emergency.