ATCHISON, Kan. — Crews temporarily suspended their search Sunday for three people missing since an explosion at a Kansas grain elevator that killed three workers and left two critically burned.
Atchison City Manager Trey Cocking said officials with Bart lett Grain Co. decided it was unsafe for anyone to be inside the facility until heavy equipment arrived to assist them.
The explosion at about 7 p.m. Saturday blew off a chunk of a grain-distribution building that sits above the elevator, and Cocking said officials were fearful that the building could fall on rescue crews.
“It’s a fairly dangerous situation. We don’t feel comfortable putting fire crews in,” Cocking said.
Although crews were considering the effort a recovery mission, Cocking said they hadn’t given up hope that the one elevator-company worker and two state grain inspectors might be found alive.
Family members of one of the missing, Travis Keil, 34, of Topeka, headed to Atchison on Sunday to await news.
Two other victims who were admitted to the burn unit of University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., were listed in critical condition Sunday, hospital spokesman Dennis McCulloch said.
Cocking said four other people associated with the explosion escaped without injuries. No names were being released pending notification of families.
With smoke still billowing from the facility Sunday, train traffic past the elevator was being rerouted.
The cause of the blast was not immediately known, though grain-elevator accidents can occur after grain dust becomes suspended in the air and turns explosive in the right conditions.
Bartlett Grain president Bill Fellows said workers were loading a train with corn when the explosion happened.
Explosions are a leading hazard at grain elevators. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, there have been more than 600 explosions over the past four decades, killing more than 250 and injuring more than 1,000.
