A 22-year-old construction worker fell 50 feet into a shaft Thursday morning while doing work for the Amtrak commuter train line in Weehawken, but due to the efforts of emergency personnel who arrived on the scene, he is expected to survive from the injuries.
According to North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue Co-Director Jeff Welz, Hugo Beja of Elizabeth, a worker for the Gottlieb Skanska construction firm, was standing on a scaffold while doing work as part of Amtrak’s $38 million safety and renovation project for Amtrak’s main tunnel that runs through Weehawken to New York’s Penn Station, when he plunged 50 feet to the bottom of the tunnel.
“According to our police reports, the man was working on the site and was struck by a whipping air hose, which caused him to become knocked off the scaffold and fall 50 feet to the bottom of the shaft,” Welz said.
Weehawken police were quickly called to the scene at 7:50 a.m. Lt. Elia Amoyan and Patrolman John DeCosmis were the first to arrive and were directed by fellow construction workers to the location where Beja fell.
“The police officers ascended down a stairwell to ascertain the condition of the victim,” Welz said.
Within minutes, paramedics from the Jersey City Medical Center arrived, as well as the NHRFR.
“The paramedics were treating the victim and administered an IV [intravenous], to prevent the victim from going into shock,” Welz said.
However, once Beja was initially treated and was secured to a stretcher, the tougher task came when they had to get Beja up to the top of the shaft.
NHRFR Deputy Chief Anthony Avillo, who has worked with training firefighters with high-angle rescue situations, realized that there were very few options to get Beja to safety and then a hospital.
“To me, bringing him back up the stairs was going to be very difficult,” Avillo said. “If we went to set up our equipment, that would have taken too much time. So we decided to use a crane that was on the site and have that crane lift the basket up through the shaft.”
Firefighter Lou Melendez was hooked to the basket that held the stretcher and went up the shaft with the injured worker.
“He basically acts as a guide while helping the victim,” Avillo said. “We’re trained for this sort of thing. We have an extremely proficient rescue task force. Once we saw what we were working with, things moved rather quickly.”
Avillo said that the man was brought out of the shaft and transported to Jersey City Medical Center 43 minutes after he initially fell.
Welz said that the victim was brought to the Medical Center with possible fractures and lacerations. His condition was not known at press time. The Medical Center would not release information about Beja’s condition.
The Amtrak improvements have been ongoing at the site, located just below the NJ TRANSIT bus depot between Boulevard East and Baldwin Avenue, a stone’s throw away from the Lincoln Tunnel entrance, for about a year. This is the first reported incident of an accident.
Welz said that the accident will be investigated by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).
“It really could have been a lot worse,” Welz said. “There was potential to have a more serious injury. While the man is injured, the rapid response by all of the emergency personnel involved has greatly enhanced his chance for recovery.”