Elon Musk’s tunneling firm, The Boring Company, has temporarily halted work at one of the company’s sites in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to a new report from Fortune. The disruption is related to a “crushing injury” sustained by one of the workers at the site, according to the magazine, which spoke to local firefighters.
Emergency responders received a call around 10:12 p.m. local time on Wednesday night about an “industrial/machinery incident,” according to Fortune. Employees at the worksite in Las Vegas told responders that someone had “sustained a crushing injury,” according to Fortune, but further details haven’t been released. The Clark County Fire Department didn’t immediately return a phone call on Thursday.
Fortune reports that an 18-person rescue crew used a crane to lift the worker out of the tunnel. The worker was transported to a local hospital and is reportedly stable, though the extent of their injuries is unclear at this point.
The incident reportedly happened in the tunnel that’s being expanded to reach the Las Vegas Airport. The Boring Company first opened a tunnel that brings people along a 1.5-mile route at the convention center in 2021 and has made efforts to expand ever since. Musk’s original idea for a mass transit system, known as the Loop, was first planned to carry 16 people in driverless pods at more than 600 miles per hour.
But that plan was downsized for Las Vegas. Visitors now travel at slow speeds of just 35 miles per hour in regular Tesla vehicles that anyone can buy. They also have human drivers, far from the autonomous rapid transit idea that was originally pitched. The Boring Company now has 3.5 miles of tunnels under Las Vegas and is expanding its operations in an effort to shuttle more people in a larger network under the city. The company has gained approvals for up to 68 miles.
The Boring Company has previously been cited for worker safety issues in Nevada, according to investigations by ProPublica, Bloomberg, and Fortune. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reportedly took a more “hands-on” approach to safety after injuries in 2024, according to Fortune. There were at least eight citations from Nevada’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including the “collapse of a large concrete bin in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center.”
The Boring Company didn’t reply to an email about the incident on Thursday. Gizmodo will update this article when we hear back.
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