A rope team works to rescue an American Salt Mine employee who fell into a storage tank Wednesday morning. Photo by Larry Tetamore.
RETSOF, NY — An employee of the American Rock Salt mine is uninjured today after a rope rescue team pulled him from a salt storage tank.
Responders were called to the mine’s bagging plant in Retsof around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday morning. Officials haven’t released the name of the salt mine employee, who was breaking off chunks of salt in a chute when the accident took place.
A Mercy Flight helicopter arrived around 11:30 a.m. to assist, but departed when it became clear the man was not hurt.
According to Major Chris Smith of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, the man was breaking chunks of salt off the mouth of a chute that leads to the tank. His safety harness kept his head above the salt line, but he was trapped “just like quicksand.”
Responding to the scene were Caledonia Ambulance, and fire departments from York, Leicester, Geneseo and Avon.