HONOLULU — Brigham Younger College offensive lineman Sione Veikoso was killed in a building accident in his hometown in Hawaii, relatives customers said.
Veikoso, 22, died Friday after a retaining wall he was aiding mend through getaway split from college collapsed, his household verified. The Honolulu Hearth Division described that three some others had been hurt when the 15-foot (4.5-meter) rock wall partially fell behind a residence in Kailua, which is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northeast of Honolulu.
“He was a light giant who liked his spouse and children. He was responsible and caring,” Veikoso’s cousin Joshua Kava mentioned in a written assertion to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The 6-foot-7 (2-meter), 305-pound (138-kilogram) lineman experienced finished his very first time at Brigham Youthful, the place he transferred after a single yr at Arizona Condition, even though retaining 4 decades of football eligibility.
Firefighters arrived at the household just just before noon Friday to come across the collapsed wall and bystanders employing a tiny excavator to take out rocks trapping the adult men. Rescuers termed them off due to the fact of the wall’s instability and manually eliminated rocks to totally free two of the males in about 15 minutes. But Veikoso was trapped deeper. He was taken out about 12:30 p.m. and was pronounced lifeless at the scene at 1:35 p.m.
The property owner advised authorities she was getting the stone wall fixed. A complete of 6 people today have been at the scene. 1 guy escaped the rubble right before firefighters arrived but refused treatment and two ended up uninjured.
“Rest in Adore Sione. God be with you until we meet up with again,” BYU soccer mentioned in a tweet.
Immediately after significant school, Veikoso put in two a long time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Manaus, Brazil, just before enrolling in college.