Swimming Excavator

Yesterday I only got 15 seconds into my run before being held up a half-hour watching the attempted extraction of this excavator. I didn't get the details, but I surmised the ground it was on collapsed and sunk it into this mud pit.


I arrived very soon after it happened and the sunken excavator was still running. The two excavators above hurriedly built an escape route then all three worked together to pull up and out. But it was too late, the water had flooded the engine and it died. I think they made a wise choice at that point in deciding to quit. They did install a pump which reduced the water level over a foot. I am quite curious what the next step is. The only option I can see is a crane, but even that will be hard since the chassis is feet deep in sloppy mud. Dad, any ideas?



A fellow gawker turned and asked me what the English word for 'excavator' was. After telling him, he said back to me, ''swimming excavator!'' When the engine quit I said to him, ''dead excavator'' with the 'knife to the throat' motion. He gestured that they should just bury it.