February 19, 2008
Grain bin rescue
NEW MADRID -- A tragedy was narrowly avoided Monday when a New Madrid man was rescued from a grain bin. Employees of the New Madrid Grain company were loading grain trucks from Bobby LaValle's grain bin located on Bloomfield Road when the grain stopped moving...
~Workers save man trapped by soybeans
NEW MADRID -- A tragedy was narrowly avoided Monday when a New Madrid man was rescued from a grain bin.
Employees of the New Madrid Grain company were loading grain trucks from Bobby LaValle's grain bin located on Bloomfield Road when the grain stopped moving.
James Robert Stanley, 48, and Bobby Joe Stanley, 35, of New Madrid got in the bin to clear the obstruction.
"Me and my brother got it flowing really well," said Bobby Joe Stanley.
At about 9:30 a.m., James Robert Stanley got out to bring another grain truck while Bruce Robinson, 51, of New Madrid, joined the younger Stanley brother in the bin.
Not too long after, Robinson ran into trouble.
"The grain started going really well and he just started sinking," said Bobby Joe Stanley. "Soybeans started covering him up."
In a seconds, Robinson's head was about four inches under the soybeans, according to Stanley.
"I tried to pull him out but it was too much weight -- that's quite a bit of soybeans," he said. "It caught me by surprise; I didn't know what to think. All I could do is go get Bobby (LaValle)."
Robinson was covered by beans but still able to breathe. "He was still talking and stuff," Stanley said.
Robinson's co-workers dug in the grain and tried to reach Robinson but soon realized he was seriously trapped and, at a little after 10 a.m., called 911.
"The initial report was we had three victims trapped in the grain bin," said Jim Harris, chief of the New Madrid Fire Department. "One of them was a lot deeper in the soybeans -- he was up to his neck. The other two were up to their waist. One of them got out pretty quick with just a little help."
"We didn't have any significant issues in getting them out," said Lt. Dicus of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, about the first two individuals.
Robinson, however, was a different matter. Sgt. Tom Conn of Sikeston DPS said Robinson was under three feet of grain when he arrived on the scene.
Prevented by authorities from approaching any closer to the grain bin than a couple hundred yards until the rescue was nearly complete, Robinson's family members, including his mother, Mary Jarrett of New Madrid, his 25-year old daughter, Latoyia Robinson, and his fiancee, Karen Bunch, endured hours in the chill wind waiting for information on his condition.
"I feel scared," Jarrett confided at one point.
"He's OK," Paul Meacham of the New Madrid Police Department assured during one of the updates. "He's fine: they're talking to him." A few minutes later Meacham added: "He is conscious and doing well -- he is breathing on his own."
Meanwhile, rescue workers were carefully shoring up the soybeans using plywood, 2 by 4s and 2 by 6s "to keep beans from sliding down on top of him," Harris said.
Vacuum trucks supplied by Associated Electric and Noranda arrived on the scene and were used to remove enough soybeans from around the trapped victim to allow him to be pulled free.
"It was a very tense operation -- if you move too much grain or grain in the wrong place it can make things worse," Harris said.
"A wrong move can trap the rescuers," Dicus said.
Robinson was finally removed from the grain bin at about 2:37 p.m. and taken by Air Evac helicopter to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.
Upon being removed, "he was alert and talking to the EMS personnel," Harris said.
"We had a lot of support from a lot of people; it's what made it a success," Harris said. "Without all the people that helped out the outcome might have been a lot different."
In addition to New Madrid's fire and police departments, the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, AECI and Noranda, the New Madrid County Sheriff's Department, the South Scott County Ambulance District and Lilbourn Police Department all helped with rescue and support operations.
"We would like to thank everyone that helped make it a successful rescue instead of a recovery operation," Harris said.
Robinson is currently in the Intensive Care Unit but alive and celebrating his 51st birthday.
"He is doing fine," said Robinson's stepdaughter, Elizabeth Huffman of Benton. "He has a lot of back pain, hip pain -- they are saying nothing is broken."
Grain bin entrapments are rare, Harris said, noting the last one he remembers in this area was 14 years ago at Cargill.
"I've worked in grain bins before but never seen no accident like I did today," Stanley said.
When grain bin entrapments do occur, they are very dangerous. Flowing grain entrapments cause an average of 12 deaths each year, according to the Hazardous Occupations Safety Training in Agriculture Web site.
"The main issue is suffocation," Harris said. "It's a tremendous stress on your body."
Upon hearing about the incident, many thought the worst -- including the rescuers.
"I've never seen or heard of someone who was completely submerged in grain living," Dicus said. "We didn't see this guy for the better part of four hours. ... Probably 90 percent of these, when someone is trapped in a grain bin, end up fatal."
"I thought they was gone," said Wilma Stanley, the Stanley brothers' mother. "I feel better now that they got them out. It was just a funny feeling I had."
Advertisement
Advertisement