2 die in farm accidents as Iowa’s fall harvest underway

Two Iowa men died this week after becoming trapped in grain storage operations as farmers are in the midst of fall harvest.

Both incidents happened Wednesday — one northeast of Independence and one near Mitchell.

About 5:10 p.m. Wednesday, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said it received an emergency call from a woman reporting she could not locate her husband, though he might be in the grain dryer located in the 1600 block of Nathen Bethel Avenue. Video surveillance showed him going up in the grain dryer, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies and Winthrop fire crews arrived at the scene and found the man in the grain dryer, where he was pronounced dead. The man became trapped under corn in the dryer and was unable to free himself, the sheriff’s office said. Authorities have not released his name.

Also on Wednesday, Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to an emergency call that a man was trapped in a grain bin. Rescuers tried “for an extended period of time” to free the man, Sheriff Gregory Beaver said in a Facebook posting, but he was declared dead at the scene. It was not clear how he became trapped.

The man was identified as Dennis Ray Fischer, 69, of Mitchell.

In his Facebook post, Beaver urged farmers at harvest time to be aware of the danger of becoming trapped in a grain bin.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.