Man Killed in Grain Silo Accident Firefighters entering the grain silo on Oscar Hayden Road which was half filled with soy beans. Photos courtesy of Seventh District VFD.

AVENUE (June 27, 2005) ---  According to Sgt. Delmar Smith of the Maryland State police, James Kenneth Raley, 77, of Bushwood, was killed on Sunday when he became trapped in a grain silo located at a farm on Oscar Hayden Road.  Sgt. Smith reports that Dep. David Alexander of the joint State Police St. Mary's Sheriff's investigation team determined that Raley fell into the grain silo but no witnesses observed him disappear.  Other persons were working on the farm elsewhere. Fire companies rushed to the scene to assist the Seventh District Volunteer Fire Dept. in rescue attempts.   The deceased is the father of retired St. Mary's Sheriff's Capt. Jamie Raley.  Jim Raley, who has been farming in the Seventh District for decades, died at approximately 2 pm.  Firefighters from Leonardtown assisted Seventh District Volunteers in rotating in for ten minute spells digging for the missing victim while beans were being removed. After an hour, the victim was found expired due to the heat and lack of air.

Firefighters worked to remove soy beans and to find trapped farmer inside silo.

Flowing grain can quickly submerge a worker and cause suffocation