MCMECHEN, W.Va.

An employee at the Kelly Paving Company in McMechen was in a Pittsburgh hospital Thursday night after a workplace accident.

Emergency crews in Marshall County worked furiously to free a man who was buried under a pile of rubble inside of a silo.

"He was inside cleaning when some stuff broke loose from above him and trapped him at the bottom of the silo," said McMechen Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mark Martin.

Firefighters said the silo the man was cleaning contained a mixture of hardened asphalt and concrete.

They said the 45-year-old was cleaning out a chute when large pieces of the mixture fell on top of him.

"I was relieved when he spoke to me. I was just happy he was alive," said a member of the emergency medical services crew at the scene.

There was no way to get the man out from the top, so crews had to start working their way in from the bottom and side.

"We talked to him for probably close to two hours, and our concern was getting him out as fast as we could, and just with the size of the material we were working with, it just was overwhelming," said the EMS worker.

Once freed, the worker was taken to UPMC Hospital in Pittsburgh by medical helicopter.

There was no update on his condition.