Lester Woda tugged on his safety rope to alert others that he was having trouble. The 49-year-old orchard manager was at the bottom of an irrigation tube, trying to fix a valve when his right foot became trapped. Workers on the surface worked desperately to drain the tank, but the oxygen in his scuba tank ran out before he could be rescued. The accident occurred in Okanogan County in Washington State.

The tube in which Woda was working was so narrow at the bottom that he had to hold his scuba tank over his head. It is used to store irrigation water for area orchards. It took emergency personnel several hours to recover his body