HOUSTON – Emergency crews found a body at a construction site in north Harris County after a worker on an excavator went missing Monday morning.
Officials said the employee was not wearing a seat belt when the machine went into a retention pond. Investigators said the excavator partially sank in the pond.
The workers were beginning construction in the area of 13900 block of Kuykendahl Road near Ella.
"An excavator had sunk down into the retention pond below the cab. Further talking to them they were sure someone was inside the cab when it went down," Chief Michael Grove, with the Little York Fire Department, said.
The ground was soft from the weekend rain, deputies said, and crews had to dig a trench to try to get some of the water out from around the excavator.
Divers eventually found the construction worker's body using sonar technology, and pulled him out just before noon Monday.
The 58-year-old worker has not been identified.
He is an employee of Ceres Environmental Services, Inc., which released a statement:
"Ceres Environmental Services, Inc. is investigating a workplace accident which occurred at our construction site in Harris County, Texas early this morning.
On behalf of all our Ceres teammates, I want to express my deepest sympathies to anyone involved in this accident. We are deeply saddened by this event.
The Company has suspended operations immediately following the incident until we can complete our investigation in cooperation with all authorities. The cause of the incident is currently under investigation."