UPDATE ON SEWER PIPE: "Never Had To Rescue Someone Like This," Official Says

Whoosh.

With a sudden surge of water, a man who was working underground Monday near Pierce County’s wastewater treatment plant was sucked into a sewer pipe and taken on a wet, dark ride before crews finally pulled him out of a manhole – more than a half mile down the line.

Despite the harrowing experience, the 37-year-old man, whom authorities say works for a contractor, was taken to a nearby hospital for only minor injuries.

A video of the rescue depicts the man being pulled to safety amid cheers from rescuers and workers.

"In my 25 years of service, we've never had to rescue someone like this,” said Terry Soden, maintenance manager for the county’s Public Works and Wastewater Utility. “He could have drowned."

was called to the scene – less than a mile away from where authorities are cleaning up the site where a train derailed in late February – shortly before 8 a.m., for a report of a man who had been working 150 feet underground and swept away. University Place Police and other help also responded.

The man – whom authorities did not identify – came loose from his safety line while working on a rehabilitation project. He was swept down the pipe, 6 feet in diameter with a 4-percent slope, and slid approximately 3,000 feet.

The man slid past two points where he could have escaped, so Public Works and Utilities sewer crews focused on a third access point, a manhole, and got a safety rope to the worker.

“They could hear him in the pipe using access points to determine his location,” according to a county press release.

Finally, the man was pulled to safety, limp but conscious.

“Alright, we got him out,” a voice could be heard saying over the video.

Soden said Sewer Utility staff responded quickly and credited them for the successful rescue.

The project involves rehabilitating the main sewer line - which is six feet across - that collects all of the flow to the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant. This project entails relining the concrete sewer line with a reinforced fiberglass liner. The project included installing two temporary access shafts to facilitate the installation of the new liner.

The contractor was working in the temporary access shaft located near the property used by the University Place School District as a bus barn, located at Chambers Creek Road and 64th Street West, prior to being swept away into the flow.

Pierce County TV produced a story about the sewer project last month. Click here to learn more and to see video of the shaft where the work is occurring