ELLENSBURG -- A 44-year-old Cle Elum man was fatally crushed when an excavator boom fell on him Saturday afternoon, Kittitas County sheriff's officials said.

David Zapel died at the scene despite rescue efforts by his sons, a Cle Elum police officer and other rescue workers, Undersheriff Clayton Myers said in a news release issued Sunday.

The incident happened about 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Solid Rock Contractors, about two miles east of Cle Elum on Airport Road.

Zapel's 16-year-old son told authorities that his father had been working under the excavator's boom on the machine's hydraulic lines. Hydraulic fluid suddenly shot out, then the boom collapsed on Zapel.

Sheriff's deputies and the county coroner's office were continuing to investigate.