Construction worker dies in Lee Avenue cave-in
Leader photo by Caleb Daniel
Ruston Police Chief Steve Rogers and other officers at the site of today's cave-in at a Lee Street construction site.
Story updated with new information — Oct. 31 @ 4 p.m.
A construction worker on a lift station project on Lee Avenue in Ruston died shortly after 9 a.m. today when a wall of the excavated site in which he was working collapsed on top of him.
James Burch, 62, of Marion, was in the roughly 10-feet-deep hole adjacent to the Lee Avenue lift station with at least one other worker when the dirt caved in. Authorities don't yet know what caused that to happen.
“We are heart-broken by this tragic loss,” Mayor Ruston Ronny Walker said in a prepared statement released Monday afternoon. “On behalf of the City of Ruston, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends.”
Burch was apparently an employee of Skylan Construction, the Farmerville company that’s doing the work. Skylan President Ben Holloway could not be reached by late Monday afternoon.
No one else was injured in the incident.
The lift station is being upgraded as part of a project to improve sewer service to an area that includes Ruston High School and Louisiana Delta Community College.
Authorities said workers had excavated around an existing force main and were going to tie it into part of the sewer line. Work has been stopped until an investigation into the accident is complete, Walker said.
"We have closed the site down until we have more information," Walker said Monday morning.
Burch had already been extricated when first responders arrived, Fire Chief Chris Womack said. He was taken to Northern Louisiana Medical Center.
