A fiery manhole blast trapped a Con Edison worker. George Dillman only 26 and looking forward to his marriage next year was busy with his routine work of splicing high voltage cables. He was working 10 feet underground when suddenly there was a loud blast. His partner Craig Penney tried to save him but he was unable to do anything.
A retired cop who saw all this said ‘ the guy down there, did not have a chance, he would have needed god to pull him out”
What caused this blast is still a mystery. The fire officials feel that with dozens of wires running under the Sutter and Euclid Aves there could be any reason especially as some wires carry 27,000 volts. The Con Ed officials say that it was routine work, which was being carried out when the blast occurred around 12. 15 p.m. The warning that something was wrong occurred when the people saw smoke emanating from the manhole. After that there was the fire and the muffled bang.
The blast killed George Dillman who happened to be working there. There was fire billowing out of the hole report witnesses. Penney did try to help his co worker by trying to lower a ladder.
Fire fighters came immediately and cut the power and tried to pull Dillman out with a hook Unfortunately he was already dead and Penney had also suffered though they were minor injuries.
Investigations are going on to determine if there was any negligence involved.
