Three Ohio brothers have died after they passed out from inhaling fumes from a manure pit on their livestock farm. The men, named by authorities as Gary, 37; Todd, 31; and Brad Wuebker, 35, were said to have become trapped in the pit after they were overcome by the fumes, with rescue crews unable to save them. They had been in the pit to fix a manure pump before they lost consciousness, St. Henry fire chief Matt Ledfield said.
3 brothers die after getting trapped in manure pit: officials https://t.co/pckeQ298T6 pic.twitter.com/Q4JlOlq6uu
— New York Post (@nypost) August 12, 2021
- Emergency crews rushed to the farm after receiving multiple 911 calls. As WHIO-7 reported, several members of the Wuebker family called 911 just after 12:30 p.m. to report that the men had passed out. “My son passed out…he was doing something with the pit,” a woman told dispatchers during the first call. Shortly after, another call came in and the caller said: “I need some help here. I’ve got all three boys down in the pit.”
- Rescue crews reported that the men were underwater when they arrived. They requested the dive team to pull the men out, and while they were removed from the pit within 20 minutes of the 911 call, they were unable to be revived and all three passed away.
- It’s unclear how the men fell into the pit. At present, there are no details about how this tragedy occurred. It could have been that one of the men fell into the pit and the other two climbed in to help and were then overtaken. Whatever the story, it’s certainly a tragic one. However, a statement from the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office did shed a bit more light on what happened there. “After the squads had left I remained on scene with the fire Department as they requested I wait until there Fire Chief arrived. I then spoke with him about the incident and we spoke with Dave Wuebker who stated he had received a call from Brad stating that Gary was in the pit. When I had talked to him initially he was unsure at that time if both Gary and Todd were in the pit or not at this point but when he had arrived all three were in the pit,” the responding officer wrote in his report. “When the Fire Chief Matt Lefeld arrived the Captain in charge of the scene and I went over the incident with him based on what we both had found out. I then stood by while Chief Lefeld spoke with some family members and then spoke with some media personnel. I then cleared the scene.”
