My left arm was smashed to pieces. It took two and a half hours to get me out
It was a sunny day in March 2012. I was a self-employed bricklayer, and had been asked to do a job in Cromer on the Norfolk coast. It was my first time on site. The job was to build nine houses, but there was a Grade II-listed brick building that had to stay. It needed underpinning to support the walls. There were no proper foundations, so we had to dig underneath and pour in concrete to stabilise it. We dug out the hole with an excavator. Just after lunch, I went into the hole, up to waist height, to clear the final bit of earth from under the corner wall with a shovel. That’s when I heard a great big bang.
Part of the building – a 6m-high wall – came straight down on top of me and covered me up to my neck. It happened so fast that I don’t recall the impact or feeling any pain. I could wiggle my toes and move the fingers on my right hand, but my left arm was badly crushed. The site foreman saw what happened, and my workmate Andrew rushed over to support my head with his hands. It was above the rubble, so I could breathe. I remember feeling happy to be alive.
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