A California swimming pool construction worker is dead after the pool wall he was digging out collapsed on him.

The incident occurred on December 21, 2020.

Luciano Gonzalez Munoz, 45, died while digging out a swimming pool in a private backyard in the city of

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Orange, according to Supervising Deputy Coroner Larry Esslinger. Munoz and four other men were digging out the pool when part of a wall collapsed around him. O’Conner said Munoz was buried up to his shoulders.

Orange Fire Captain Ryan O’Conner said that before they arrived on scene, workers assembled a crane to lower a

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protective steel cage into the hole so that the Munoz's body could be recovered without the threat of another collapse.

Urban Search and Rescue units from Orange, the Orange County Fire Authority, Anaheim and Huntington Beach, were called to the scene as the first-arriving firefighters were lowered into the hole with ropes to began trying to clear the dirt away from Munoz.

Then, a second wall collapsed, causing the man to be completely buried.

Firefighters continued to attempt to save him for over two hours.

After two and a half hours, rescue efforts changed to a search for the man's body, which continued until the following day.