Crews were hoping to stabilize the debris and resume their search Monday in the Bartlett Grain Co. facility in Atchison, about 50 miles northwest of Kansas City. The bodies of three other workers were recovered after the Saturday blast, and two people are hospitalized with severe burns.
The explosion was a harrowing reminder of the dangers workers face inside elevators brimming with highly combustible grain dust at the end of harvest season. The blast fired an orange fireball into the night sky, shot off a chunk of the grain distribution building directly above the elevator and blew a large hole in the side of a concrete silo.
The search for three people presumed dead — another worker and two grain inspectors — was temporarily halted Sunday because of fears that the building could fall on rescuers. Local officials met with victims' families to explain why crews pulled back, but understood they wanted their loved ones found, Atchison City Manager Trey Cocking said.
"Uncertainty is always the worst for folks," he said late Sunday, as candlelight vigils were held near the still smoldering building.
The three Bartlett workers whose bodies have been recovered were identified as Chad Roberts, 20; Ryan Federinko, 21; and John Burke, 24. Bartlett officials said the three others are presumed dead and search crews have a good idea where they were at the time of the explosion.
Among the missing was Travis Keil, a war veteran who had served as a site inspector for 16 years. His parents, Gary and Ramona Keil, drove from Salina to Atchison to wait with his three children — ages 8, 12 and 15 — as crews searched.
"We have all our prayers working for him," Gary Keil said. "It's a parent's worst nightmare to go through this."
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