Mexican men rescued from San Ysidro sewer pipe

Four illegal immigrants were rescued from a sewage filled pipe by San Diego Fire and Rescue on the night of Wednesday, February 13. Afterward, the men were hosed off and handed over to Customs and Border Protection officers.

According to the Fire Department Communications Division, the men had been trapped for more than 12 hours.

"The call came in at 21:40," the dispatcher said. "We extricated four people from a sewer manhole behind the port of entry at the end of Rail Court."

The rescue required a fire truck, the rescue equipment truck, and several ambulances. The men, who emerged covered in sewage, were stripped and hosed off, then wrapped in blankets and transported, the dispatcher said.

The trapped men were heard calling for help on the short street that runs east and west just south of the McDonald's building by the San Ysidro trolley station, near the bright yellow International Building east of the tracks.