Man recovered from hole at Lady Lake construction site ID’ed, police say

John Joseph Terranova, 27, died following a construction accident near U.S. 27/441

LADY LAKE, Fla. – Police identified the body of a construction worker trapped in a hole at a bridge construction site in Lady Lake on Wednesday.

John Joseph Terranova, 27, was recovered from a freshly dug hole along U.S. 441 in Lady Lake about 10 hours after rescue efforts started, police announced in a Thursday news release.

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Lady Lake officers and Lake County firefighters were called to the scene around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after The Maylor Foundation Contractors reported that one of their employees fell in a hole “and was trapped by the walls caving him in,” police said.

According to police, Lake County Fire Rescue, Villages Fire Rescue and Lake EMS teams unsuccessfully tried to rescue the Leesburg man using hand tools before the mission turned into a recovery effort. After 10 hours, the team of first responders recovered Terranova’s body.

“No external trauma to the victim was discovered at the scene and no criminal activity is suspected at this time,” the department said.

The construction site is part of a project aiming to widen U.S. 441 from four to six lanes between Lake Ella Road and Avenida Central. A key part of the project includes removing the bridges in that area built over County Road 25, according to the Florida Department of transportation’s website.

Maylor Foundation Contractors, a subcontractor for Southland Construction, which is the primary company supervising the project, reported the incident to Occupational Safety and Health Administration and has stopped the project pending an ongoing investigation.

Southland Construction, the contractor supervising the site, has previously faced OSHA fines due to lack of general safety requirements back in 2017 and 2018.

Lake County Fire Rescue Chief James Dickerson also issued a statement early Thursday.

“On behalf of Lake County, we offer our condolences to the family and our thoughts are with them during this time.

“At 4:30 p.m., Lake County Fire Rescue was called to a construction accident, located at 441 in Lady Lake, where it was determined that a construction worker was entrapped in a hole on scene. Lake County Fire Rescue and the Villages Fire Rescue crews recovered the victim, working through the night. I appreciate both fire rescue teams and their dedication to serving our residents as well as Lake EMS, Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lady Lake Police Department who participated with the unified command and traffic control.

“Lady Lake Police Department is still investigating the incident at this time.”

Check back here for updates.

Lady Lake police searched by hand to recover a victim from a construction site Wednesday night. (Copyright 2022 by WKMG ClickOrlando - All rights reserved.)

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