FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A Fort Wayne man is lucky to be alive after being buried alive Monday afternoon.

The Fort Wayne Fire Department says the man was digging a trench on Fox Mill Run near Timber Wheel Court at about 2:20pm when it collapsed on him, burying his head in about three feet of dirt.

The News-Sentinel reports that since it was mostly clay, and dry, he still had access to air, and was able to last the 50 minutes it took firefighters to shore up the trench and dig him out.

He was taken to a local hospital for obvservation.