Elderly man rescued from hole in Walcott

Posted on Oct 02, 2009 by admin.

(AP) — A man in his 80s was rescued from an 8-foot hole filling with water on his farm near Walcott.

The man, who was not identified, was trapped in the hole near his barn for about four hours on Thursday. His wife found him when he didn’t come home for lunch and called for help, said Lt. Dave Anderson of the Scott County sheriff’s office.

Anderson said Friday that he didn’t know if the man was digging the hole, but he was working in it.

“It was just big enough for a man to fit it into. We think something was clogged at the bottom of it and that’s what he was trying to do and he fell going in there,” Anderson said.

Anderson said it was raining and water was running into the hole from the top of the barn. There was also a pipe running over the hole, and maybe it was leaking, Anderson said.

The man grabbed a chain that was on the pipe and lifted himself above the water.

“He also used his belt to hook to that. He was kind of chinning himself when the deputy arrived,” Anderson said.

Deputy Ken Koehler pulled the man out of the hole. He was taken to a Davenport hospital for treatment of a possible hip injury and hypothermia.

“The deputy said he didn’t think he would have lasted another hour,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he did not know the man’s condition.