WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderOSHA assisting with deadly grain bin accident in Mt. Carroll

OSHA assisting with deadly grain bin accident in Mt. Carroll

By Marissa Alter

MT. CARROLL (WREX) - Two teens are dead, a third is in the hospital after a grain bin accident in Mt. Carroll Wednesday morning.

It happened at the Consolidated Grain and Barge Company, 10650 Mill Road in Mt. Carroll. The victims all worked for Haafbach, LLC, which owns the grain bins.

The Carroll County Sheriffs Department said around 4:15 p.m. they pulled William "Will" Piper, age 20, alive from the grain bin.  He was flown to OSF St. Anthony's Medical Center for treatment.  They then began to the recovery process.  Around 10:15 p.m. Alejandro "Alex" Pacas, age 19, was found in the bin.  He was pronounced dead by the Carroll County Coroner.  The third victim, Wyatt R. Whitebread, age 14, was found dead at 10:50 p.m.  

Before the bodies were even found, the sound from Lifeline's helicopter brought a crowd of people to the site near the corner of Mill Rd. and Illinois 64. Among them, 17-year-old Austin Weler. He heard his friends' names come over the scanner.

"It's really nerve-wrecking. Corn ain't a thing to really mess around with. The more you move around in it, it takes you, moves you down."

Rescue crews know that, so the process has been slow. They're draining the bin's grain to make sure no one else gets hurt.

"They don't want to get a rescue person trapped inside either, so it's just a matter of removing the grain and being able to get safely to the victims," explained Dep. Craig Dimmick with the Carroll County Sheriff's Department.

The bin holds 500,000 bushels of corn. It was half full when the teens fell in. Police haven't said how that happened yet.

Laura Roach watched the recovery effort and waited for word with her son. He is friends with one of the victims. Another used to live next door to the her family.

"It's definitely scary. I get goosebumps talking about it. It just starts choking me up because, you know, my thought is, it could be him," she says referring to her son. "My thoughts and prayers go out to the family."

Firefighters also had to deal with the heat during their rescue efforts. Extra manpower had to be called in so crews could rotate. Three firefighters went to the hospital with heat-related issues.

The Carroll County Sheriff's Department, Carroll County Coroner's Office and OSHA are all working on the investigation.