Travis Wayne Koehler died attempting to save Richard M. Luzier from suffocation, Las Vegas, Nevada, February 2, 2007. Luzier, 48, was climbing from the belowground lift station of a sewer system after working on a pipe there. He fell to the bottom of the 10-foot-deep pit, where he lay unconscious in wastewater. A coworker, Koehler, 26, journeyman engineer, immediately entered the pit and descended to its floor. He lifted Luzier’s head out of the water before he too lost consciousness in the pit’s oxygen-deficient atmosphere, which contained toxic fumes. Another coworker entered the pit in a rescue attempt, but he also lost consciousness and collapsed. Responding rescue personnel removed the men from the pit. The coworker survived but required extensive hospitalization for acute respiratory distress. Luzier and Koehler died at the scene
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