[UPDATED]: Worker At Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Died After Falling Into A Tank

There was a scene of major disarray at the Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant on Knapp Street in Sheepshead Bay this afternoon.

A worker at the plant fell into a 35-foot-deep wastewater tank that is made of concrete while on the job at the facility on Knapp Street between Avenue Y and Voorhies Avenue, according to police and firefighters. The man, who was in his 30s according to the New York Post, was trapped at the bottom of the tank for nearly 10 minutes, according to authorities.

A desperate search that involved police, firefighters, and expert marine scuba divers from the NYPD and FDNY, went on for a while starting at around 12:30pm, and about 10 minutes later, they pulled the man’s body from the tank, according to FDNY Deputy Chief John Hodgens.

“He fell and he went right to the bottom,” Hodgens told reporters at the scene. “There was no sign of him on the surface of the water.”

The victim, who hasn’t been identified yet, was given CPR the moment he was out of the water in a desperate attempt to get a pulse out of him, according to Hodgens.

“It’s an unknown environment,” said Hodgens. “We have zero visibility. They performed a difficult search in order to recover this member. It wasn’t cut and dry by any means.”

He was immediately rushed to Coney Island Hospital in critical condition, according to authorities, but he died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

The tank that he fell into contains the wastewater at its final stages of treatment before it gets flushed into Plumb Beach Channel, just across Knapp Street from the plant. It isn’t clear yet what caused him to fall into the tank.

We will be keeping an eye on this story, and updating as developments arise.

[Update October 26, 6:18pm]: This victim was identified by police as Michael Buffamante, 31, of Hawthorne, upstate New York. He was at the plant, working for an outside contractor, according to police.