14 DAY TRIAL // A 67-year-old man has died at the Union Mills Co-Op in Indiana after a grain bin sent him falling off a silo tower on Monday, June 24.
WSBT reported that worker James Swank was standing near the top of the tower when a grain elevator exploded.
The blast took place on Monday afternoon in Union Mills, LaPorte County. Swank worked for Co-Alliance LLP and he was in charge of said grain elevator.
Residents heard the explosion from miles away, but authorities are yet to identify what started it.
The local Sheriff's Department is working with the Indiana State Fire Marshal's office, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to pinpoint the cause.
“It just shook our whole house,” describes resident Loretta Scarborough.
The LaPorte County Coroner noted that Swank died as a result of blunt force trauma.
“It’s a very sad day for Co-Alliance, we lost a member of our family,” company safety and risk manager Shawn Lambert states.
“We’ll be investigating and searching for potential ignition sources, whether it’s some sort of ignition source such as a spark or something that could have potentially ignited some grain dust,” he adds.
The top of the grain elevators has been damaged, experts have noted. The elevator tower from which the worker plummeted to his death is 175 feet (53 meters) tall.
“It appears to do exactly what it’s supposed to do when an explosion occurs, it goes out the top,” Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Sosinski informs.
The blast could have been caused by an employee using a hammer and igniting the grain dust, Purdue University farm safety expert Steve Wettschurack explains.
“It'll shake the countryside. There's a lot of power to it. But there's not really a lot of fire to it,” he says.