Boy rescued after being trapped inside grain bin in Clinton, Missouri
CLINTON, Mo. — Emergency responders rescued a boy trapped inside a grain bin for hours in Clinton, Missouri Monday morning.
Around 9:07 a.m., Clinton officers and first responders reported to Hankins Grain Company off of N. 2nd Street about someone stuck inside a grain bin.
Once authorities assessed the situation they saw the boy buried in the grain bin up to his chest.
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“At the time they got trapped, I’m told by employees of this facility that they were doing some work on the bin, cleaning some grain out of the bin,” said Clinton Fire Department Chief Mark Manuel.
“There was a pocket, void space in the grain that some wet grain created. When they broke that loose, it sucked the victim down into the grain and buried him to his chest.”
Chief Manuel says it took just under three hours to rescue the boy, adding that he came out unharmed and in “good spirits”, but still sent him to the hospital as a precaution.
“To get him out of the grain bin we used a device called ‘The Great Wall of Rescue,'” said Manuel. “This device is built and created just for situations like this, grain entrapment.”
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“This is a device made of several pieces. There’s several wall pieces that we can use and push this down into the grain and once we get it completely deployed it encapsulates our victim and prevents any more grain from falling down onto them to bury them any further.”
After using that tool, the firefighters used an auger to remove grain from around the boy which freed him from the grain.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating what happened Monday and has six months to complete its report.
