In a harrowing incident at an Oceanside recycling facility, two workers sustained injuries after becoming entrapped under a conveyor belt. The emergency situation, which took place on yesterday morning, prompted a diligent response from Nassau County emergency services, as reported by ABC7NY. The two workers, ages 62 and 68, were at Earth Tech Recycling when the conveyor belt they were dismantling unexpectedly collapsed on them.
Brent to extricate them, the Oceanside Fire Department and other emergency workers swiftly arrived at the scene. The youngest of the men, aged 62, was quickly freed and suffered injuries deemed non-life-threatening. He was taken by the Oceanside Fire Department to a hospital nearby, say police. Struggling with severe injuries, the 68-year-old was pinned for over an hour under the heavy machinery, necessitating the use of stabilizers and airbags to lift the machine, according to News 12 Long Island. This complex rescue effort endured about an hour.
Following the extraction, the 68-year-old man was transported in critical but stable condition by helicopter to the hospital from a supermarket parking lot nearby. Chief Sean Costigan of the Oceanside Fire Department noted that the situation was particularly precarious due to the victim being "bent over with his knees trapped in the machine," as he told News 12 Long Island.
The names of the injured workers have yet to be released as authorities continue their investigation into what caused the industrial equipment to fail. Chief Costigan underscored that the two men were believed to be in the process of dismantling the machine when trapped by the collapse, according to an interview.
