84-year-old farmer dies after falling into silo filled with soybeans near Oran, Mo.

An 84-year-old farmer from Commerce, Mo., died Wednesday when he fell into a grain silo filled with soybeans, Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said.

Herschel Gilpin and his son were unloading the bin on leased farmland along Scott County Road 277 near Oran, Mo., when the accident occurred, Walter said. The son was moving a tractor and Gilpin was on top of the silo, Walter said. The son did not see the accident.

When rescue workers arrived at about 1:30 p.m., they found Gilpin neck-deep in the beans and unresponsive, Walter said.

The rescue became a recovery and for about two hours, emergency responders from Oran, Sikeston, Mo., Perkins, Mo., and other locations worked to free Gilpin's body. Equipment from nearby farms was brought to the scene to empty the silo, a process that took a few hours, Walter said.