Authorities investigate death at Rostraver Township sewer project
Authorities are investigating the collapse of a trench that fatally injured a Derry Township man along Country Drive in Rostraver Township Monday afternoon.
The Westmoreland County Coroner蘑菇视频 office said a 60-year-old man was injured and later died after a trench he was working in along Country Drive in Rostraver Township collapsed Monday afternoon.
Rostraver Township police and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating a Monday afternoon trench collapse that claimed the life of a 60-year-old Derry Township man.
鈥淥SHA opened an investigation yesterday and has six months to conduct the investigation and release its findings,鈥� said Lenore Uddyback-Fortson, a regional U.S. Department of Labor spokeswoman in Philadelphia.
The Westmoreland County Coroner蘑菇视频 office said early today that Vaughn L. Kopetsky was pronounced dead along the 200 block of Country Drive at 4:15 p.m. Monday.
That was some 45 minutes after a storm sewer trench where he was working collapsed around him.
鈥淭he decedent (Kopetsky) was in the process of exiting the trench,鈥� Coroner Kenneth A. Bacha蘑菇视频 office said in a release. 鈥淐o-workers began to dig and extricated the decedent from the trench.鈥�
Rostraver Central firefighters and Collinsburg rescue personnel responded quickly but in vain. Deputy Coroner Timothy P. O鈥橠onnell pronounced Kopetsky dead at the scene.
鈥淥fficial cause and manner of death will be pending autopsy results,鈥� Bacha蘑菇视频 office said. 鈥淭oxicology results will not be available for several weeks.鈥�
Pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht and his Pittsburgh firm will perform the autopsy. Other information including the selection of a funeral home was not immediately available.
On Feb. 1 Rostraver Township supervisors chose R.A. Monzo of Latrobe from among 27 bidders for the storm sewer project on Country Drive.
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this for 40 years,鈥� township engineer Carl DeiCas said at the time. 鈥淚鈥檝e never had 27 bids submitted on a job.鈥�
DeiCas said it was for laying down 573 feet of three-foot-diameter pipe with four inlets.
鈥淭hey were about one-third of the way completed,鈥� DeiCas said Tuesday morning. 鈥淭here was a crew of three plus a foreman.鈥�
Monzo bid to do the job for $119,057.50, the offer deemed to be the lowest responsible bid in a range of up to $281,965 submitted by a Glassport company.
Monzo officials could not be reached for comment this morning.
Township officials referred calls to Solicitor Albert Gaudio who declined comment.