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MBTA worker falls 35 feet into shaft at Charles/MGH
By adamg on Wed, 03/30/2011 - 6:01am
Worker with two broken legs being winched up from shaft. Photo by BFD.
UPDATE: 8:05 a.m. Dan Tobin tweets the Red Line is running again - packed to the gills. The Globe has details on the incident.
UPDATE, 7 a.m.: They got him out and he's alive.
Firefighters are at the Charles/MGH T stop this morning, attempting to extricate an MBTA power-department worker who fell 35 feet in a 2x2 concrete shaft around 4:30 a.m.
Buses are substituting for Red Line service between Kendall and Broadway.
At the scene. Photo by BFD.
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Comments
replacement service-not too bad
Just came from Savin Hill to Beacon Hill. It took me an hour, usually less than half that. Luckily from Broadway to South Station we got to use Dot Ave thru the postal annex (wish it were open all the time-at least for peds/bikes). The Downtown xing stop was at the beginning of Washington by the passageway to city hall. Hope they solve this soon, can't image the chaos as the morning progresses. They should have some people get off at JFK and use the commuter rail to South Station.
Depends...
It's all in your point of view. I saw the red line shut down and re-arranged my commute to take the #1 to Cambridge. But they had stolen buses form the #1 to run red line shuttle, so service for the #1 was abysmal. But given Adam's retweet of how the Broadway stop looked, I think I ended up better off in the long run.
Service has resumed as of
Service has resumed as of 7:55.
35 ft?
And still alive: Amazing.
Who's the cat that won't cop
Who's the cat that won't cop out
When there's danger all about?
Can you dig it?
But I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft!
He's a bad mutha--
shut your mouth!
The both of you'd best stay away from my bank accounts!
One of them let me write my own security question.
"Who's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about?"
Coming up
A couple more photos courtesy the Boston Fire Department: The first shows the firefighters trying to figure out how to get the worker out; the second shows him on the way to medical attention (at MGH, of course):
Walked By This Morning
Walking to Government Center from Kendall was easier and probably less time than hopping a shuttle bus, so I travelled on foot. Having heard about the medical emergency (but not knowing what it was), I expected to see fire engines and EMTs crawling all over the place. It really wasn't bad -- some Transit cops on the Charles Street side and a fleet of news vans.
The station itself was empty. No one going in or out, no one on the platforms. The movement that characterizes human occupation of an area was not to be seen. It was barren of life, except for one thing.
Ding! This is Registrar Rachel Kaprielian...
at least not Dumb
Reading the globe article, he fell after stepping on a piece of plywood covering the hole, the plywood broke and there he went. Bad on the MBTA for covering a whole like that with plywood.
Afternoon delays on the Red Line
Ten to fifteen minutes due to "maintenance activity" at Charles. Replacing plywood with oaken beams?
How lucky is this dude?!
From the Globe story and the updates on WBUR today, it sounds like he has some pretty crappy leg injuries, but no major head or other trauma. That's absolutely amazing; when I worked in a rehab we had plenty of folks who'd survived much smaller falls and ended up with major organ damage, nerve damage all over the place, severe cognitive disabilities. I mean, his injuries have got to suck, but it sounds like he was talking and was still the same dude. Just...wow.
Someone was looking out for him.
Audio of the guy's radio call for help