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Worker killed in San Francisco trench collapse identified

By KTVU Staff
Published  September 29, 2023 4:15pm PDT
San Francisco
KTVU FOX 2

Collapsed trench kills utility worker in San Francisco

An investigation has begun into a trench collapse in San Francisco that led to the death of a utility worker on Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO - A utility worker killed while working on a sewer project for the city of San Francisco was identified on Friday.

The victim was 25-year-old Javier Romero of Alameda County according to the city's medical examiner's office.

Romero was working on the city's sewer and rehabilitation project in the area of Oak and Divisidero streets on Thursday morning when a trench collapsed, burying him under eight feet of dirt, sand, and concrete. For more than two hours, rescue crews removed the soil in an attempt to free the worker, but he was pronounced dead before emergency responders could extract him

Both Cal/OSHA and local authorities have opened separate investigations to determine the cause of the trench collapse.

Romero was not a city employee; he worked for D’Arcy & Harty Construction Inc., a contractor hired by the Department of Public Works for the sewer project.

The day after the tragedy, flowers were placed at Romero's worksite in the Lower Height neighborhood to pay tribute to the victim.