Illinois Man Rescued From Corn Silo

Sept. 29--SAUGET -- An employee who was trapped in a corn silo Thursday was rescued at Center Ethanol Co. just before 10 a.m.

Patrick Rowan, 43, of Elk Meadow Lane in Smithton, was airlifted to a hospital, Sauget Police Chief Patrick Delaney said. Rowan was trapped waist-deep in corn for two hours after the corn shifted while he was cleaning the inside of the silo. Sauget Police received a call reporting the trapped individual at 8:54 a.m.

Capt. Daniel Sutter of the St. Louis Fire Department said Rowan was in stable condition after he was rescued.

Rowan was performing routine maintenance when he became trapped, Sutter said.

Multiple emergency response teams responded to the accident, including a Collapse Rescue Task Force from St. Louis, the St. Clair County Emergency Services and the O'Fallon Fire Rescue team.

The rescue from the corn bin is not a common occurrence, "but we train for this," O'Fallon Fire Chief Brent Saunders said.

"There is so much pressure around the body that you just can't pick him up," Saunders said. "It's not an option to just lift him up."

Rescue crews installed a tube around the man to keep the corn from pushing in on him. Then, crews removed any of the corn inside of the tube to relieve pressure on the victim so it wouldn't crush him, said Randy Lay, director of St. Clair County, Emergency Management Agency.

"Because of the way he was positioned, they didn't really use the tube as much as the plywood. We used plywood to build shoring to keep the corn back. We dug the corn out from around him. He was in corn a little above his waist.

Delaney said the victim didn't panic. "He remained calm," he said.

Center Ethanol Co. is located at 231 Monsanto Ave. The business has been in its present location since 2002. It converts corn into ethanol.

A special vacuum truck was needed and a truck that easily hooks the vacuum up came over from St. Charles County, Mo. This enabled the crews to vacuum the corn away from the victim, Lay said.