A construction worker in his 50s suffered life-threatening injuries when shoring equipment fell on top of him at the East Link light-rail construction site in south Bellevue, according to the Bellevue Fire Department.
Someone called 911 to report that a worker had been injured just after 10:30 a.m. Thursday, said Bellevue Fire Lt. Camari Olson. The fire crew that responded to the construction site on Bellevue Way Southeast, just north of the onramp to Interstate 90, was able to extricate the injured man and load him into a medic unit, where he was treated en route to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the region’s trauma center, she said.
The heavy equipment that fell on the man was being used to stabilize structures at the site, Olson said. The state Department of Labor & Industries, as well as supervisors with the East Link project, responded to the scene to investigate the cause of the equipment collapse, she said.
The 14-mile East Link line is scheduled to open in 2023 and will connect 10 stations from Seattle’s International District to Judkins Park, across I-90 to Mercer Island and south Bellevue, and continue through downtown Bellevue to the Redmond Technology Station, according to Sound Transit’s website.