A construction accident on a farm in Lonoke County killed one person and injured five Monday afternoon, law enforcement officials said.
Deputies responded to a farm on Red Wine Road after reports of an individual trapped after dirt collapsed just before 1 p.m., a Facebook post from the Lonoke County sheriff’s office said on Monday.
Sandage farms has 3731 Red Wine Road listed online as the address.
As first responders attempted to rescue the person, a second collapse occurred, the post said.
One person was killed and five people were taken to a local emergency room to be treated for their injuries.
Sheriff John Staley said that he knew one person had serious injuries but he did not think any of the five taken to the emergency room had life-threatening injuries.
The identity of the person killed was not immediately released, pending the notification of the next-of-kin.
The sheriff said he was unsure if any of the injured were still being treated or if they had been released.
He said a deputy jumped in to try and help.
“We have a protocol that is kind of like ‘don’t jump in holes,’ but he got there and he wanted to help,” Staley said, “He wasn’t injured, he might be sore but he’s okay.”
Staley said that there were workers digging a trench that was around 10 feet deep.
“I am not sure whether they were workers on the farm or hired from a construction company, but they were doing work on the farm digging a large trench, I am not entirely sure what for,” Staley said.
The sheriff said that it took first responders six hours to excavate the original subject who was trapped in the first collapse.