Being buried alive is the stuff of nightmares for most people, but for one American woman, who incredibly survived getting trapped beneath a collapsed wall, it felt like a ‘really big bear hug’.

Ashley Piccirilli, 35, nearly died in May 2021 after she was buried alive at a construction site in Northampton, about 20 miles north of Springfield, Massachusetts. 

The Air Force veteran had been just a week into her new construction job when a wall of dirt collapsed.

One of the trench’s side walls crumbled and trapped her under thousands of pounds of dirt – about six feet.

The construction worker had to wait 30 minutes before she was dug out of a thousands of pounds of dirt with an excavator and people’s bare hands.  

Now, four years on, Ms Piccirilli has shared what it felt like to be buried, telling People: ‘Right when I got hit, when the trench collapsed, everything went quiet – an eerie quiet. 

‘I’ll never forget the sound because it hit me from the left to the right, the sound of the dirt just kinda like a whoosh over my body’.

Unaware at the time that her lung had collapsed and all the ribs on her left side and one on her right were broken, the construction worker said she wasn’t in too much pain because her body was in shock.

She admited that the sensation was uncomfortable and recalled having to take really small breaths due to the pressure on her lungs – with the packed earth above her even forcing her eyes shut.

Ashley Piccirilli, 35, nearly died in May 2021 after she was buried alive at a construction site in Northampton, about 20 miles north of Springfield

It took about 30 minutes to free Piccirilli using an excavator and hands. She who had broken ribs, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding

The Air Force veteran had been just a week into her new construction job when a wall collapsed

‘The best way to describe it is it felt like… you know when you see someone for the first time that you haven’t seen in a while and they give you that really big bear hug and they’re holding you really tight and uncomfortable? That’s what it felt like,’ she said. 

Despite her military training that kept he calm, Ms Piccirilli had an unwavering conviction that she would be rescued. 

‘I never thought I would die, never, because I was like – they know where I am, they’re gonna come get me. 

‘I knew I was buried alive, I don’t know if it was stupidity, but that kept me calm and I didn’t panic. I didn’t think of family or anything because I didn’t think I would die.’ 

Ms Piccirilli was awake for the whole time she was buried but said she knew that if she panicked she would not be here today. 

‘When they dug me, that’s when pain started coming in, that’s when I started to panic a little bit, saying, “Wait, please someone help me I can’t breathe.” Those were the only words I repeated into the ambulance,’ she said.

When she finally arrived at the hospital, Ms Piccirilli was sent immediately into the operating room after they saw on an ultrasound how much internal bleeding was happening in her abdomen. 

Baystate Medical Center trauma surgeon Dr. Kristina Kramer said Ms Piccirilli was bleeding to death – so much so, that doctors could hear it, in something medics call ‘audible hearing’ – and her chances of survival were slim to none.

Ms Piccirilli’s heart stopped during the surgery thanks to the hole in the main artery and Dr Kramer had to cut open her left chest to sew the leak shut.

Piccitilli spent the next 30 days at the hospital but is now back at home and thriving

She returned to flight school and is now a pilot at Barnes Air National Guard Base

Not yet out of the trenches, Ms Piccirilli went for a second round of surgery the next day to reassess the internal bleeding and close the incisions.

The procedure took several hours and a team had to help reconstruct her chest, navigating the broken ribs and clavicle.

Ms Piccirilli also had to have her sternum and diaphragm reconstructed and 15-20 per cent of her liver as well as her lacerated spleen.

She spent the next 30 days in hospital and a whole year to fully recover.  

‘The reason she survived is because of her strength physically and mentally and the teamwork of all the different people that were involved in her care – it’s never one person,’ said Dr. Kramer.

‘For trauma in particular there are so many different pieces that must work seamlessly together from pre-hospital providers to the emergency department and operating room teams, to care team on the units after surgery, to rehabilitation and home care.

‘Everyone came together.’