A federal emergency declaration has been approved to allow the transport and use of equipment and personnel to search for four missing workers at an explosion at the DeBruce Grain elevator in Sedgwick County, Kan., yesterday. The missing workers are believed to be in a tunnel underneath the elevator. Rescue workers are making their way to an 800-foot section of one of four tunnels, where the missing people were believed to be working at the time of the explosion.
Progress is hampered by grain that sifts into tunnels after the rescue workers dig.
The explosion may have been caused by a spark that ignited highly combustible grain dust, according to a spokesman for the Sedgwick County Emergency Management Office. The explosion knocked a hole the size of the small house out of the center of the structure, and blew out concrete on both ends of the elevator.