By Associated Press - Wednesday, April 10, 2019

NEW PLYMOUTH, Idaho (AP) - The Payette County Sheriff’s Office says two people are dead after a trench collapsed in a rural southwestern Idaho.

Payette County Sheriff’s Lt. Andy Creech says the men were working for a private company installing irrigation pipes Wednesday morning when the trench they were in collapsed. Three different fire departments, paramedics, law enforcement officers, highway department workers and a private construction company worked to extricate the men, but emergency workers were not able to resuscitate them.

Neither the name of the men nor the name of the company they were working for have been released.



It’s not clear whether the workers were using a trench box or other safety equipment when the collapse occurred.

The region is under a flood watch, but authorities say the collapse is not related to flooding. It remains under investigation.

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