Tragic Teen Death in Florida Construction Site Accident

A 14-year old North Port boy was buried in a construction site cave-in Sunday in Florida.

Danilo Riccardi Jr. and his brothers were helping their father, Danilo Riccardi, Sr., install concrete culverts at the work site for Bethanie French Seventh-day Adventist Church in Port Charlotte, Florida. Danilo Jr. was standing in a trench to get some water to mix cement when the walls of the 8 to 10-foot-deep trench collapsed around him. The wet, heavy, dirt of the walls made recovery efforts virtually impossible, said sheriff’s spokesman Bob Carpenter. “It was a tragic situation. It was like quicksand,” said Carpenter.

It was unclear how long the boy was buried before his father discovered him in the whole and tried to pull him out. When paramedics and deputies began arriving around 3:30 p.m. only the top of the boys head was visible. Paramedics tried for about 30 minutes to revive him once his face was uncovered, but he was already dead. His body was not fully removed from the hole until about 6:30 p.m.

At least 25 to 30 people were involved in the rescue effort, including Fire and EMS workers, its special operations units, the Sheriff’s Office, and the public works department. “They did everything they could do, but he was already gone,” Carpenter said.

The boy’s father experienced serious heart problems on the scene and had to be aided by EMS workers as he slumped over, but he refused to go to the hospital until his sons body was freed.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident.