VOLGA — A silage silo accident on Saturday morning near Volga has taken the lives of two people who were working to repair its damaged roof.

The workers were identified as Larry Dalzell, 51, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Randi Vandekieft, 41, of Warner Robins, Georgia, according to a Monday news release from the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office. They had been working on a nearly full, 80-foot-tall Harvestore silage silo, with the accident occurring at 11:25 a.m.

BCSO Sgt. Kevin Murfield said a 911 phone call was received from the site. “Right now, since the investigation is still open and pending — I’m working with OSHA and myself — we can’t release any more details in regard to the accident.”

Dalzell and Vandekieft, who Murfield said had ties to South Dakota, worked for Crooks-based Heartland Tank Inc. Phone calls to the company went unanswered Monday.

For unknown reasons, according to the release, the two became entrapped inside the silo and are believed to have been overtaken by toxic gas. Both were removed from the silo and seen by medical personnel, who determined that Dalzell and Vandekieft were dead.

When asked about farm safety considerations, recommendations and advice, Murfield kept things simple and to the point.

“What I would stress for the public is to make sure that they’re using their best practices around their farm equipment,” he told the Brookings Register. “A lot of our local area farmers are very well-versed as far as how they should complete these types of things, but always to make sure to operate on the safe side of things and make sure they’re following proper policies and procedures when they’re operating the machinery and … around those farm places.”

The sheriff’s office is continuing to investigate the incident. Other responding agencies were fire departments from Brookings and Volga, ambulance services from Arlington and Brookings, Sanford Air Med and Brookings County Emergency Management.

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.