ALTON, Ill. (AP) -- A wall collapsed on two plumbers who were working Friday in a 14-foot-deep sewer trench, killing them both.
The victims were identified as Randy Rasler, 45, of Greenville, owner of Rasler Plumbing, and his employee, Vernon Sarver, 26, of Herrick, The (Alton) Telegraph reported.
The men were working in the trench near Illinois Route 140 on the east end of Greenville when a wall collapsed, said Tony Brooks, chief deputy coroner for Bond County.
A witness said the two men tried to escape before the cave-in, the newspaper said.
Bond County Coroner Alan Young said preliminary findings indicate the men died of asphyxiation from suffocation.
The Alton Fire Department, which has trench rescue equipment, was called to the scene at 11:45 a.m., but the men died before rescuers could reach them, authorities said.
It appeared that neither the trench nor the sewer pipe had been shored up before the collapse, authorities said.
No one else was injured in the accident.
