Cemetery Worker Injured in Fall Into Grave

A New York City cemetery worker is recovering in a hospital after he fell backwards into a freshly dug grave and had to be hoisted out by firefighters.
The accident happened Friday morning at St. John's Cemetery in Queens.

Fire Department officials tell The New York Times that the worker was semiconscious at the bottom of the eight-foot hole when paramedics arrived.

Firefighters strapped the worker to a specially designed basket and pulled him out using a pulley anchored to a backhoe.

The man was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center in critical condition.

Officials did not release the worker's name. A hospital administrator had no information on his condition Saturday.

A woman who answered the phone at the cemetery said she could not comment.