2 workers die in sanitation plant accident

BROMLEY, Ky. (WXIX/Gray News) - Two contractors’ bodies have been recovered after they died in a northern Kentucky sanitation plant accident Thursday, authorities said.

It happened late Thursday morning in Bromley, a small city of about 724 residents along the Ohio River.

Three men were working in a hole about 40 feet deep in Sanitation District 1 when something went wrong and they became trapped, according to police.

Emergency crews were called around noon to a reported drowning at a pump station for the sanitation district.

Authorities said Thursday there was no collapse at the plant.

The workers, employed by Building Crafts, Inc. in Wilder, were identified in a company statement as Mason Neises and Josh Mason.

“Both were hard-working young men who were taken from their families far too early. Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of Mason and Josh. Their passing brings about profound grief, especially at this time of year,” Building Crafts said in a statement.

The first worker’s body was found just after 6 p.m. Thursday, Villa Hills police say. The second body was recovered around midnight, according to Kenton County dispatch.

A third worker went to a hospital to get checked out.

He refused medical attention on scene and was later taken to a nearby hospital by family members, police wrote in a news release.

The pump station is right down on the river, just west of the Ludlow Bromley Yacht Club.

It’s the sanitation district’s largest pump station, sending 40 million gallons of sewage per day to the Dry Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant from northern Kentucky’s river cities.

“Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the family, workers, emergency response personnel, and all involved in this tragedy,” police said in their prepared statement.

Local and federal officials are continuing to investigate what happened to cause their deaths.

Building Crafts said grief counselors have been made available to employees dealing with the loss of their co-workers.

“We continue to cooperate with the authorities who are investigating the incident,” the company said.

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