2 Freed From Cave-In : Rescue: Firefighters save men buried up to their necks in collapse of trench at an Anaheim Hills home.

ANAHEIM —  Two day laborers up to their necks in heavy, wet soil were rescued by firefighters Friday morning after a 12-foot trench that was not reinforced caved in on them at a gated Anaheim Hills home.

“They are lucky to be alive,” said Rudy Weyland, a spokesman for the Anaheim Fire Department. “You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to go down where those two men were working.”

The pair of Whittier men, 23-year-old Jorge Garcia Hernandez and 43-year-old Diego Servin Sanchez, were digging a trench to waterproof a basement wall at 190 S. Cobblestone Lane, one of four homes surrounded by walls and a gate, Weyland said. Around 10 a.m., the earthen walls collapsed on the two, who had not been shoring up the trench as they dug, Weyland said.

“I heard screaming and we ran over there,” said Morano Navarro, 25, part of a construction crew remodeling the house. “I was scared for them.”

Both men escaped with minor injuries, complaining of numbness in their feet, Weyland said. They were released Friday afternoon from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Anaheim, officials said.

Officials with the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Friday afternoon the laborers were working without the required excavation permits. Cal/OSHA has barred further work until the proper paperwork is filed, spokesman Jim Brown said.

Officials are still investigating whether the laborers were hired by an individual or a contractor, Brown said. The laborer’s employer could be fined, Brown added.

The Anaheim Hills home was recently purchased by Dr. Vinod Kothapa, who was unavailable for comment. Kothapa barred the media from his property, which is adjacent to another home with a listed selling price of $2.4 million.

More than 18 firefighters from the Anaheim and Orange fire departments responded to the emergency call at 10:07 a.m. Rescue crews methodically dug for two hours to free the men from the trench, which was about 25 feet long and about 1 1/2 feet wide.

Upon arriving, Anaheim firefighter Paul Lagace said he was relieved to see both men were able to breathe and talk in spite of being nearly entombed in dirt.

“It could have been a lot worse,” said Lagace, who helped pull out Sanchez. “Another two feet of dirt and they would have been in real trouble.”

To prevent another collapse, firefighters worked slowly, bracing the earthen walls as they scooped out the loose soil. The slow pace seemed to heighten the anxiety of the two trapped men, firefighters said.

“They kept calling for shovels and they wanted their friends to dig them out since they thought they could do it faster,” said Anaheim firefighter Alan Smith. “(Hernandez) was pretty scared. He broke down a few times.”