Boy Dies After Fall Into Empty Grain Shaft

Sat., July 29, 2000

From Staff

A 9-year-old boy died Thursday night from injuries suffered when he fell 20 feet into an underground grain storage shaft near Rathdrum, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department reported Friday.

Eyob Johnathan Meyer was playing with his cousin at 10:39 a.m. Thursday when he fell into the concrete-bottomed shaft, which was empty.

The Sheriff’s Department found the incident to be an accident and plans no further action, Sheriff Rocky Watson said in a news release.

Preliminary reports said the boy was unaware of the open hatch to the storage shaft on the Meyer family farm on Lancaster Road. Republican state Rep. Wayne Meyer is a partner in the farm.

“They open it up before they harvest, to air it out and prevent mold,” sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

The boy was flown by a Med-Star helicopter to Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane with head injuries. Emergency crews used a rescue basket and ropes to lift him from the shaft.

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