His father, Robert O'Brien, was superintendent on the project. After the accident, as Michael was being carted away to an ambulance, Robert tried to administer CPR, but to no avail. By the time Michael arrived at Bellevue, he was pronounced dead.
Michael was performing shotcreting, a procedure that shoots cement at exposed rock from a hose. As for the culprit chunk, the cement was likely poured too thickly. The work was part of a $7.3 million project known as East Side Access. It sets out to connect the LIRR with Grand Central. The project is now suspended while the MTA investigates the incident.
This is the first time a sandhog -- an underground urban manual laborer, like a miner or construction worker -- was killed since 1997.
The O'Briens live in Wisconsin around 130 miles northwest of Milwaukee and travelled two months ago to work on this project.
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