A Massachusetts native and Air Force pilot, Ashley Piccirilli, has shared her survival story of being buried alive at a construction site in 2021.
At the time Piccirilli was working in construction during her first week on the job when the accident occurred.
“If I had known I could’ve died in that hole, would I have panicked? Maybe. I literally didn’t think I could die,” Piccirilli recalled.
Piccirilli was working when one of the trench’s side walls collapsed, trapping her under thousands of pounds of dirt. She described the initial sensation as an uncomfortable bear hug.
“There was a gentleman in the excavator from up top who noticed the wall collapsing. He yelled out, ‘Watch out!'” Piccirilli recounted.
Despite the terrifying circumstances, she remained calm, believing rescuers would reach her.
“They know where I am, they’re coming to get me, so I stayed calm through the whole thing, took very, very small breaths,” she said. “Little did i know, I broke all the ribs on my right side, and I think one on my left. My lung collapsed, internal bleeding.”
Rescue crews freed Piccirilli in roughly 30 minutes and rushed her to a hospital about 20 minutes away. She doesn’t remember much of the journey or arriving at the hospital, but she recalls being wheeled into the operating room.
“I don’t remember much of the travel there, I don’t remember arriving there, but I do remember being wheeled right into the O.R. I remember seeing some weird fuzzy things, a few people running around, I remember people running around. And I remember, who I now know as Dr. Kramer, saying ‘We’re going to take care of you, you’re going to be alright.'”
“She was bleeding to death when she arrived. It was very clear when she arrived that she needed to go straight to the operating room,” said Dr. Kramer, Piccirlli’s trauma surgeon, who vividly remembers the first surgery.
“She was bleeding so much that when we found the place she was bleeding from, we could actually hear it. It’s called audible bleeding. That’s when we started calling for extra help.” said recalled Dr. Kramer. “She coded. Her heart stopped. We were able to restart it really quickly. It’s rare everything goes as smoothly as it did.”
Piccirilli underwent multiple surgeries and has since fully recovered. She has left the construction industry and dedicated her life to serving in the Air Force. After more than a year of training, she is now an Air Force pilot.
She said she is grateful to the people who saved her life that day.
“If it doesn’t strengthen your faith, in whatever you believe in, I don’t know what can,” said Piccirilli. “Taking every day as it is and not getting angry at the little things. I don’t have road rage as much anymore, like for real. Little things change.”
Piccirilli had been given less than a 2% chance of surviving the 2021 construction accident and she is still beating the odds as only 6.5% of women are Air Force pilots.
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