Construction worker killed after he's buried alive in horror accident on site

A construction worker was shockingly buried alive under six feet of earth after a trench at his workplace suddenly collapsed, sparking a 13-hour recovery effort.

Ronald Andrew Baquera Jr, known as Ronnie, died on Monday while working on a site in Goodyear, Arizona, after becoming trapped beneath a heavy mass of shifting dirt. Crews rushed to free the 44-year-old, but conditions quickly became too unstable, and within half an hour, the rescue mission turned into a recovery. “Ronnie was a loving father and a loyal friend - brutally honest, endlessly caring, and unforgettable,” his childhood friend Nate Costly wrote in a tribute posted on Facebook.

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A vigil held on Friday saw mourners gather near the site, where gospel singer Shatera Williams described Baquera as a “fixer” - someone who would “fix things with laughter or his hands.” It comes after a doctor was decapitated by lift in a hospital accident as a colleague watched in horror.

Baquera leaves behind two sons and a daughter. “My daughter is really torn up,” said Melissa Prado, the mother of two of his children. “She spends almost every day with him. She’s a little distraught, and my son’s angry. They’re not really coping too well. His hobby was his children.”

Emergency crews were called to the scene at around 1pm after reports of a man trapped in a ditch. They arrived within six minutes and found colleagues frantically trying to dig him out, but because of nearby gas lines and fragile infrastructure, rescue teams were forced to proceed slowly using specialist tools. It wasn’t until around 2am the next day that his body was finally recovered.

Just hours before the vigil, construction crews were still working at the site, laying pavement and landscaping only metres from where the trench collapsed. Fred Gonzalez, who returned to the site days later with his son to inspect nearby piping, told AZ Central: “It definitely feels eerie. We all are involved in the underground industry. The trench they were working in was shored up with a metal box-like structure. It can happen.”

On the day of the tragedy, the Industrial Commission of Arizona launched an investigation to determine if safety rules were breached. The agency said findings could take four to five months.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Baquera’s family with funeral and memorial costs. “Ronnie Baquera was a fun-loving, hard-working man who would do anything to help those around him,” the post reads. “His warm heart, generous spirit, and unwavering dedication to his family and friends touched everyone who knew him.”