Rescue personnel work at the silo Wednesday morning
/ photo: Jim Kenyon
UTICA -- A Herkimer County man is dead after he fell into a silo in Utica Wednesday morning.
According to Utica Police, around 8:40 a.m. officers and Utica firefighters responded to 71 Wurz Avenue for a report of a man who had fallen off of a ladder into a silo at Harbor Point Minerals. Employees told police that 24-year-old Craig D. Bernier of Mohawk fell while working inside the silo containing cotton seed, and they were unable to get him out.
Rescue personnel and Utica Department of Public Works worked quickly to cut holes into the side of the silo in an attempt to rescue Bernier. Unfortunately their efforts were not successful and Bernier's body was found dead around 2:45 p.m.
Much of the silo had to be emptied out in the effort to find Bernier's body.
Both OSHA and the Utica Police Department are looking into how the accident happened.
