Workers with SKW/Eskimo Inc. on Tuesday morning tried to contact 21-year-old Cory T. Mayer of Wainwright by radio, and when he did not respond they went looking for him.
Co-workers spotted Mayer lying in a work site hole, not moving, and called police.
Wainwright emergency workers tried to revive him and transported Mayer to the Wainwright Health Clinic, where he was pronounced dead.
The state medical examiner is planning an autopsy.
Wainwright is a community of 534 about 80 miles southwest of Barrow.
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