Workers still missing after Kan. grain accident

[RC]

Posted on Sat, Oct. 29, 2011 09:20 PM

Workers still missing after Kan. grain accident

By JOHN HANNA
Associated Press
Orlin Wagner
The damage to the Bartlett Grain Co. elevator in Atchison, Kan., could be clearly seen Sunday morning. The elevator exploded Saturday, killing at least three people.

Three people remain unaccounted for and two others are hospitalized in critical condition following an explosion at a grain elevator in northeast Kansas that killed three workers.

Atchison City Manager Trey Cocking says officials are weighing whether it's safe to send fire teams into the facility, which sustained significant damage in the Saturday night explosion seen as far as Missouri.

Among the missing are one worker from the elevator company and two state grain inspectors.

>SNIP<

The explosion could be seen and felt across Atchison, shaking homes and businesses up to four miles away. The cause 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.
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/29/3237425/fire-officials-grain-elevator.html

[sharp_stick]

1. I grew up on a grain farm

and I remember an elevator explosion, the damage was something else. Under the right conditions the dust is as explosive as a fertilizer bomb. This kind of dust explosion is part of the design of some of the massive fuel air bombs.