Authorities in Southeast Texas are investigating what police are describing as a tragic accident in which a construction worker was killed by a drilling machine being operated by his grandfather.
NBC affiliate KPRC-TV reports it happened Wednesday morning at a warehouse site in the Houston suburb of Spring. A machine operator put a boring bit down a hole, unaware anyone was inside it at the time.
At some point, the 22-year-old grandson got into the hole and "was killed almost instantly," Harry County Constable Mark Herman told news outlets.
“I don’t want to get into the logistics of it, but the drill ended up killing him,” Herman told KPRC. “It’s very tragic and appears to be an accident.”
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He said investigators are working to determine exactly what happened.
The names of the man killed and his grandfather have not been released.
The Spring Fire Department’s rescue team along with firefighters from Spring and The Woodlands were working to secure the hole Wednesday afternoon so they could remove the man’s body.
