Body of missing man recovered at construction site near Sky Harbor

A four-day search for a missing construction worker near Sky Harbor Airport came to a somber end Thursday, as Phoenix fire officials say they have recovered the man's body.

Capt. Rob McDade said Phoenix Fire's Technical Rescue Teams, along with the construction crew, recovered the body of 52-year-old Melvin Self.

The Medical Examiner's office, along with Phoenix Police, will now be in charge of the investigation.

The incident happened at around 9:30 a.m. on Monday, while construction work was being done on the Sky Train system.

"They had finished digging that hole, and were relocating that piece of equipment when the accident took place," said Captain Jake Van Hook with Phoenix Fire on Monday.

Earlier in the week, Cpt. Larry Subervi said the process to recover the victim is slow and methodical.

"When you're in a city, all the dirt has been dug up before, we consider it all non-stable, non-compacted dirt, so with that we have measurements and charts that we have that tell us what the slope should be to keep us in that safe in that process," Capt. Subervi said.

In addition, officials said they wanted to preserve the body's integrity.

Crews first removed the drill rig that collapsed with the use of two cranes. After rig was removed, the cranes were disassembled, and a vacuum truck was brought in to remove dirt, with the truck being operated remotely.