WASHINGTON — An 18-year-old worker who had been missing since Monday morning in a silo collapse at an Ashburn, Virginia, quarry was found dead on Tuesday.
The worker — identified Tuesday afternoon as Daniel Potter of Front Royal, Virginia — was reported missing after the 80-foot sand plant silo gave way about 6:30 a.m. Monday at Luck Stone Quarry, according to the Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management.
Crews from Loudoun County and Fairfax County searched for about 24 hours for Potter before finding his body at about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Loudoun County Assistant Fire Chief Keith Johnson says. The structure had fallen on him, Johnson says.
Johnson adds that as of 7:30 a.m., crews were still cutting away the structure with torches and saws in order to get to the body. Crews recovered his remains Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson says Potter’s parents were at the quarry awaiting word of their son.
Fire officials said that all the material inside the silo — the company says it’s stone dust, a fine powder used to make asphalt — had been cleared, and the metal structure inside had collapsed and pancaked.
The search was temporarily halted during the day Monday, but Loudoun fire officials said it resumed after the silo had been stabilized after 8 p.m.
The family-owned company’s president and CEO, Charlie Luck, said “Our associates are an extension of our family.”
Johnson says that federal officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration are on scene and leading the investigation into the cause of the collapse, which he called “catastrophic.”
Editor’s note: Initially, it was reported that the victim was 19. Loudoun County authorities corrected the victim’s age Tuesday morning.
WTOP’s Kathy Stewart and Kristi King contributed to this report from Ashburn.
