Remember when: A 29-year-old Gold Coast man died in a trench collapse near Nerang in 1984

A MAN buried alive in a trench near Nerang tugged desperately on a rope for two minutes while his workmates tried frantically to save him.

Flashback: Coast collapse tragedy

Gold Coast Bulletin, Thursday June 21, 1984

A MAN buried alive in a trench near Nerang tugged desperately on a rope for two minutes while his workmates tried frantically to save him.

Gold Coast Bulletin 1984, June 21. Front page.

Kevin Hogan, 29 was a single man from Main Beach and could be heard moaning beneath the mound of damp earth and shale as ambulance and firemen tried to dig him out.

A paramedic team stood by with equipment to resuscitate the buried man but by the time they reached him 35 minutes later he was dead.

The buried man had hold of a length of rope which could be seen jerking as he apparently pulled on it in a vain attempt to save his life.

“I told them to get out of that trench this morning,” said a distraught co-worker as police engineered the recovery operation.

“They shouldn’t have gone in there before the timber braces went in.

“Kevin thought more of his job than he did his own life. It’s another life wasted.”

Mr Hogan was working as a pipe layer at Holiday World Caravan Park near Nerang at 11am on June 20, 1984.

He went into the 4.4m deep trench to make a final inspection of sewerage pipes when a large slab of rock fell.

Workmates yelled to him to get out and he started to run but the rock fell and brought down a large amount of soil on top of him.

Police Sergeant Lesley Anderson led the recovery effort.