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NYC worker freed from waist-deep mud

NEW YORK, March 20 (UPI) -- A New York subway project construction worker was freed Wednesday after being trapped in a 75-foot-deep tunnel in waist-deep mud, officials said.

Authorities said it wasn't immediately known how the unidentified worker became stuck or what his medical condition was when he was rescued about 12:30 a.m., The New York Times reported. The worker was conscious when taken to a hospital.

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The rescue involved 130 emergency personnel and lasted 4 hours before the man was lifted from the hole in a basket suspended from a crane on the surface.

The episode at the construction site began when the worker's foot somehow became lodged in a frame being used in the project and sank into the mud, Ron Spadafora, an assistant fire chief, told the Times.

A Fire Department spokesman said the worker was secured with a rope while responders cleared debris around him. Consolidated Edison also brought in a truck equipped with an industrial vacuum to suck out the mud and debris to free the worker.

A firefighter said workers used plywood to brace the walls as they descended into the tunnels using ropes. He said the rescuers found themselves getting stuck in the mud as well.

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Officials told the Times several initial rescue attempts failed. At least two first responders were taken to a hospital with injuries.

The spokesman said the worker was conscious and talking during the rescue and was given drugs to help calm him, the Times said. A physician and a Fire Department chaplain were brought into the tunnel to assist the man.

One mud-covered firefighter said he had been in the hole for 30 minutes and called it "a nightmare."

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