ICE Agent Rescued From Tunnel After Fall

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee was rescued Tuesday afternoon after falling down a concrete tunnel in Otay Mesa.

March 28, 2012

SAN DIEGO -- An Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee was rescued Tuesday afternoon after falling down a concrete tunnel in Otay Mesa.

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department officials said the U.S. Border Patrol notified them shortly before 2 p.m. of a man that fell at least 30 feet down a tunnel at an industrial site in the 2600 block of Britannia Boulevard.

ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said the employee "was being escorted through a cross-border training and demonstration tunnel south of San Diego" when he fell and was injured.

10News' media partner U-T San Diego reported the ICE worker's weight -- 375 to 400 pounds -- complicated the rescue attempt. Crews eventually pulled the man out shortly before 3 p.m.

The ICE employee was taken to the hospital for injuries not considered life-threatening, Mack said.