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PLACEDO – A father of three in his mid-20s died Wednesday morning when he fell into a grain silo and could not be rescued.

The accident occurred at about 8 a.m. at Vic-Cal Grain, 135 Main St. James Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene about 2:30 p.m.

First responders from the Victoria Fire Department were told that a crew of three was trying to loosen up some grain that had jammed in the silo.

“The grain loosened up underneath them. Two of the men were off to the side, but the third was in the middle,” said O.C. Garza, public information officer for the city of Victoria. “He got sucked down. The other two men tried to rescue him, but could not.”

The 911 call came in at 8:08 a.m. and first responders arrived about 20 minutes later, Garza said.

About 9:20 a.m., rescue personnel used a ladder truck to ascend again to the top of the silo. The body was found about 10:10 a.m., and the rescue mission was changed to a recovery effort.

“They are trying to figure out the safest way to get him out,” Garza reported at the time. “He’s tied off and secure. They may lower the grain level enough to get him on a backboard and bring him up through the top.”

Shortly before noon, a small vent on the side of the silo was opened and the grain sorghum slowly began spilling out. Then equipment was used to open a large hole in the side of the silo and the milo spilled out at a greater rate.

Rescue workers continued to try to reach Garcia from the top and others shoveled the milo out from the hole near the base of the grain silo. As the milo piled up, a company tractor pushed it aside.

The Placedo Volunteer Fire Department also assisted throughout the recovery effort.

Inside the silo, conditions were difficult.

“It was treacherous, constantly shifting,” said Victoria firefighter Doug Kelley, one of two members of the first team in the silo.

Fellow firefighter Shawn Rainey, too, said the recovery effort was like nothing he had experienced before.

“In the morning it was still kind of cool, but as the heat of the day increased, it got hot. Once that bottom door was opened, there was a draft and it was reasonable,” Rainey said. “But it was like quicksand in there. It was like an ant in a doodlebug hole. Whatever you did, you knocked more in on you.”

At first, rescue personnel could only see Garcia’s hand, but as the milo emptied, they were able to secure him around his torso.

The attempt to remove Garcia went on for about 2 1/2 hours. At 2:25 p.m., his body was removed from the grain silo and shortly after that Victoria County Justice of the Peace Hank Welfel pronounced Garcia dead at the scene. He has ordered an autopsy and Garcia’s body will be sent to the Travis County Medical Examiner in Austin.

Vic-Cal Grain co-owner Jerry Salley said he preferred not to comment until he was “exactly sure what happened.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the accident. Vic-Cal has been the scene of two other incidents in recent years. In October 1999, about 600,000 pounds of grain sorghum spilled onto the ground when a storage tank collapsed. In September 2007, a silo also gave way, dumping about 35,000 bushels of corn onto the railroad tracks and company parking lot. No one was injured in either incident.

Garcia, a 2001 graduate of Bloomington High School, had worked at Vic-Cal about 2 1/2 years, Salley said.

A friend at the scene, who didn’t want to be identified, said Garcia had visited him Tuesday night to welcome him back to town. They were in high school together, graduating a year apart.

“He was easy-going,” the friend said. “And a good family man. He loved his kids.”