2nd Person Dies in Illinois Grain Bin Accident

A grain bin accident in northwestern Illinois has left two people dead and a third hospitalized in serious condition.

Authorities were called around 10 a.m. Wednesday to a bin owned by Consolidated Grain & Barge Enterprises in Mount Carroll. Rescue workers cut holes in the sides of the bin and drained thousands of pounds of corn as they tried to get to one of the people trapped in the bin.

The Carroll County sheriff’s department says 19-year-old Alejandro Pacas and 14-year-old Wyatt Whitebread were pulled from the grain bin after 10 p.m. and pronounced dead.

A spokeswoman at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Rockford says 20-year-old William Piper remains in serious condition Thursday.

Authorities are investigating the incident.