After being trapped for hours in a grain bin filled with tons of soybeans, two men were freed and airlifted to a Savannah hospital Thursday evening.
Both were conscious and alert, but exhausted, said Bulloch County Public Safety Director Ted Wynn, who was on the scene at the Georgia Highway 46 location during the rescue effort.
David Averitt, a former Georgia State Patrol trooper who currently works in agriculture, and Darrell Colson, a volunteer firefighter and emergency responder with Bulloch County, were both entrapped for hours Thursday. Averitt became engulfed in the unstable bin of soybeans around noon, while Colson was trapped within the shifting beans a few hours later when he was trying to extricate Averitt.
The soybeans were not level in the grain silo, located on Greg Sikes’ farm off Highway 46 near Jadith Deloach and Red Hill Church roads, and movement could have caused further shifting, Wynn said.
The 40-foot-tall silo was about two-thirds full, and first responders called for ropes and pulleys to winch Averitt out of the bin. When that didn’t work, rescue workers secured Averitt so he would not sink further as they sought alternatives to free him, according to information dispatched over emergency radio.
Workers using radios to communicate with each other called for a helmet to protect Averitt and said attempts to pull him from the beans were painful because of the tremendous pressure on his body from the soybeans. He was immersed up to his armpits, according to reports.
Around 2 p.m., workers tried to use the augur in the grain bin to remove the soybeans and lessen pressure so Averitt could be extricated, but that proved unsuccessful, as the “vibrations from the augur caused the soybeans to come down on top of” Averitt, Wynn said.
Back boards from responding ambulances and pieces of tin were used to build a wall around Averitt so the beans would not shift and entrap him further. Holes were then cut into the grain bin walls to release the contents of the silo, but a danger of sparks igniting the highly combustible contents were of concern, according to radio traffic.
As workers used hoses to shower water on the beans, others continued to cut holes in the sides of the grain silo and shovel the spilling beans aside. Rescue personnel were inside the bin as well, shoveling the beans to keep them level and prevent them from engulfing Averitt, when Colson also became trapped, Wynn said. Colson then became immersed in the beans up to his chest.
A Georgia Search and Rescue team from Savannah arrived to assist, while Bulloch County EMS personnel administered aid to the victims, including intravenous fluids, according to information dispatched over the radio. Around 5:30 p.m., Bulloch County 911 dispatched a call for additional personnel and more shovels to help move the tons of soybeans as they flowed from holes cut in the steel sides.
Both men were extricated from the tons of beans around 7:30 p.m. and flown by Air Evac and LifeStar air ambulances to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Wynn said.
“They are both conscious and alert,” he said as the men were loaded into the helicopters. They were sent to the hospital for treatment and observation due to “the pressure on their bodies for that length of time.”
Along with Statesboro and Bulloch County firefighters, agencies involved with the rescue were Bulloch County EMS, Bulloch County Rescue, Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia State Patrol Post 45.
Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at (912) 489-9414.