BLOOMINGTON - A 64-year-old rural Bloomington man died Thursday after he fell into a hole partially filled with water in his back yard, the McLean County coroner said in a release.

Gary Savage was transported to OSF St. Joseph Medical Center after LeRoy and Downs ambulance crews responded to reports of a drowning around 12:40 p.m. in the Charterwood subdivision in rural Bloomington, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at 1:58 p.m. at the hospital.

A preliminary investigation by Coroner Beth Kimmerling has found that Savage collapsed while digging a hole in the exterior part of his home in an attempt to fix a leaking sump pump.

An autopsy is scheduled for today.

Savage apparently fell headfirst into the hole, which is about 3 feet wide and 2 to 3 feet deep, while digging around a broken pipe in the yard, said McLean County Police Lt. Carl Boyd at the scene.

Savage's wife found him but had trouble pulling him out at first, and there was water at the bottom of the hole, Boyd said. Rescue crews and a sheriff's deputy were able to pull the man out of the hole, but he was not breathing, he said.