LAWTON, Okla. --

A man who had been trapped up to his neck for 14 hours in a collapsed construction-site trench in southwestern Oklahoma was rescued early Wednesday, fire officials said.

The 29-year-old man was working on a sewer line at Southwest 82nd Street and Lee Boulevard in Lawton at about noon on Tuesday when a clay boulder collapsed around him. Lawton fire crews said the man, only known as "Alex" at this time, pushed a co-worker to safety.

The man's wife and mother came up from Wichita Falls, Texas, to spend the day by his side at the scene.

He was transported to the OU Medical Center after being freed, and emergency crews said he was breathing and talking the entire time he was trapped.

Rescue workers said they were able to keep him breathing by pumping him oxygen, and they were also able to give him fluids intraveniously while he was in the collapsed trench, nine feet underground.

Crews said they had to work slowly as the night progressed because they slightest wrong move could have triggered another collapse, making the situation even worse. They said that between 120,000 and 150,000 pounds of clay were resting on this man's legs.

"I'm telling you: When I said I was talking to God, that's exactly what I'm saying," said Oklahoma City Fire Department Chief Cecil Clay. "This was touch-and-go a lot of times. I mean, an extreme amount of pressure on these fellows to get in there and do what they did."

Nine Oklahoma City firefighters came to the aid of Lawton crews, including six members of the Oklahoma City Fire Department trench rescue team.

Officials declined to release the man's name or the name of his employer.

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