A backhoe driver escaped injury Tuesday despite falling into the Green River in Kent atop a backhoe.
The driver lost control of the backhoe while backing up along the Green River Trail and plunged about 40 feet down an embankment. The backhoe landed on its side in the river and the driver also fell into the river, according to a Kent Fire Department media release.
The incident occurred at about 2 p.m. Tuesday just north of South 200th Street and west of 58th Place South.
Employees for Potelco, Inc., of Kent, were working to install a power or light pole, said Kyle Ohashi, public information officer for the Kent Fire Department.
The driver, his clothes soaked from the river, climbed up the embankment and notified co-workers of the accident. Nobody else witnessed the incident.
It took workers using two large tow trucks more than an hour to pull the backhoe out of the river. The Surface Water Rescue Team from the Kent Fire Department helped attach heavy cables from the tow trucks to the backhoe.
Fire officials temporarily closed the Green River Trail to foot and bicycle traffic until the backhoe had been towed away.
A Potelco supervisor told fire officials that the veteran backhoe driver followed the company’s standard operating procedure as he backed down the trail. It was unknown how the driver lost control of the vehicle and went off the trail.
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