A man who was working on a 5,800-square-foot Milpitas hills home was killed Saturday when the trench he was working collapsed and buried him -- three days after the city ordered work stopped on the project, according to the chief building official.

The man was working in a 12-foot cut to the hillside made for the foundation of the home on Calaveras Ridge Drive when the top three- to four-feet of the cut gave way in the moist soil, trapping the young worker, said Keyvan Irannejad, chief building official with the Milpitas Building and Safety Department

"They didn't have proper shoring in place, and it crushed him," Irannejad said.

Wednesday, a Building and Safety Department inspector issued a stop-work

notice after seeing there was a lack of shoring, according to Irannejad. The inspector required the developer to obtain a review by a soils engineer to provide recommendations for shoring.

"Despite of the stop work notice, work in the trench was continued, which led to the fatal accident," Irannejad said.

The victim, whose name has not been released, worked for U.S.-Sino Investment Inc. of Fremont.

His body had not been removed as of Monday at noon, according to a city source. Recovery efforts have been hampered by the threat of more soil collapse.

The Milpitas police and fire departments have not issued a statement with more details yet. A fire department official said the Calaveras Ridge site is being treated as a crime scene