A Mara­cas man was killed and an­oth­er in­jured af­ter the par­cel of land they were ex­ca­vat­ing to build a box drain col­lapsed, bury­ing them.

Kevin Den­nis, 46, was de­clared dead at the scene in San­ta Bar­bara, Mara­cas, St Joseph, on Thurs­day.

His friend, a 63-year-old man from Guarat­ta Vil­lage, Mara­cas, was tak­en to the Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ences Com­plex, Mt Hope, where he was treat­ed and re­mains in sta­ble con­di­tion.

Fire of­fi­cers from the Tu­na­puna Fire Sta­tion were called af­ter the earth col­lapsed, trap­ping the men.

They ar­rived to find the men pinned in a hole about 25 feet from the road on the east­ern side of the es­tate.

The hole mea­sured rough­ly 15 feet deep, ten feet wide, and 20 feet long.

The sec­ond man was res­cued and rushed to the hos­pi­tal, while ef­forts were made to pull the de­ceased to safe­ty, even though he was un­re­spon­sive.

Af­ter res­cuers re­alised Den­nis was not breath­ing, the Dis­trict Med­ical Of­fi­cer was called. Den­nis was pro­nounced dead and his body or­dered to be re­moved.