Clinton, Mo. – An Elks Club leader who had gone upstairs to memorize a speech for an initiation ceremony was found dead in the rubble of the brick lodge Tuesday after the century-old building collapsed.
Tony Komer, the 32-year-old “exalted ruler” of the Clinton Elks Lodge, was the only person killed in Monday night’s collapse.
About 50 others – including nine men who were trapped for hours – made it out alive.
“We could have had massive deaths,” said Don Eaton, one of the nine trapped men. “But the one is bad enough.”
Lodge members had just finished dinner when they heard a snap and, within seconds, saw the third level collapse into the second.
“I looked over, and a whole section of the floor was just falling away,” Elk Jim Glasscock said.
Most were able to make it down a staircase, but Komer had gone to the third floor to memorize a passage he was to deliver.
The other nine trapped men were in a small opening amid the debris. They contacted emergency officials by cellphone, huddled together and prayed. As debris fell and the rubble shifted, it felt like aftershocks and they feared they would never emerge alive.
“At one point, the nine people called 911 on their cellphone and said, ‘We feel the rubble shifting. Please tell the workers to pray for us,”‘ said Clinton Police Lt. Sonny Lynch. “I think a lot of people did.”
The building had been renovated in recent years, but it was not clear what caused the collapse.
It was five hours before the first man was rescued, and another five hours passed before the last man emerged. Rescue workers had to tunnel in through a neighboring building, crawling on their bellies through openings.
