Freed from corn silo, man tells emergency crews he’s ‘hungry’

NORTH GOWER, Ont. — A man in his 30s emerged alive and well -albeit hungry - following a six-hour rescue effort to free him after he was buried up to his neck in corn on Wednesday.

The man, believed to be either an employee or the owner of North Gower Grains, was working inside a 15-meter grain bin when metric tons of corn kernels collapsed around him, trapping him and making it impossible for him to move.

More than 30 rescue workers arrived on scene shortly after the first call - for a fire - came in around 12:30 p.m.

But instead of battling a blaze, rescue workers fought against time to help the victim breathe against the enormous weight of the corn.

“It’s a product that does contain a lot of weight,” Ottawa fire sector chief Paul Hutt said as crews were still trying to dislodge the man.

Hutt said every time they tried to move him more grain would fall.

Emergency workers fashioned what Hutt referred to as a box around the victim, using slats of wood to ease the pressure, and gave the man an air mask to help him breathe, while vacuum trucks sucked the kernels out from around him.

“With the pressure and the amount of the material that is there now, you just can’t pull him out,” Hutt said at mid-afternoon.

A hole was cut about half way up the silo, and corn vacuumed out from around the man, so that emergency workers could dislodge him, pull him through the hole and lower him to the ground.

Paramedics took him to hospital to be checked out because of the weight that had been placed on his body, but Hutt said he didn’t believe the man had suffered any serious injuries.

“In fact,” Hutt added, “he said he was hungry.”

Tags: agriculture, crops, corn, farm