What to Know
- Workers were installing a cesspool at a Long Island home when the ground gave way beneath them, sucking one of them into a sinkhole
- The man's body was recovered hours later; he has been identified as 59-year-old Edward Sinnott of Huntington
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is assisting in the investigation
Inspections are underway after a giant sinkhole swallowed a 59-year-old man alive as he and another worker were installing a cesspool at a Long Island home.
A spokesperson for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said inspections began Wednesday, the same day of the accident. Details on the investigation weren't immediately released.
Edward Sinnott and another man were working in the yard in Huntington, Sinnott's own neighborhood, when the cesspool collapsed, spawning a gigantic sinkhole that consumed the entire front lawn and ate half of the driveway.
Sinnott was sucked in to the pit. The other worker nearly suffered the same fate but managed to grab hold of construction equipment.
Crews were still filling in the massive sinkhole — wider than two cars — on Wednesday night after a frantic, hours-long rescue effort involving dozens of firefighters, police officers and workers failed to save Sinnott.
There have been a number of incidents of people and animals falling into cesspools on Long Island in recent years.
