Baralaba farmer John Lawson shares terrifying ordeal trapped in grain silo

A 78-year-old Central Queensland farmer has lived to tell the tale after being trapped up to his neck in grain in a terrifying ordeal in a silo.

John Lawson was cut out of a silo on Thursday afternoon (February 23).

Farmer John Lawson is recovering surprisingly well after a terrifying ordeal where he was trapped up to his neck in a grain silo in Central Queensland on Thursday afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the dramatic rescue mission about 12.30pm off Moura Baralaba Road at Baralaba.

Sharing his remarkable story of survival while recovering in Rockhampton Hospital, Mr Lawson, 78, said he was loading a truck with grain when it stopped running out and he couldn’t unblock it from below.

Just like he done dozens of times over the years, he climbed into the silo and gave the centre a big push with a big pipe – but unlike the other times, it all collapsed in and set solid, holding him down.

Baralaba farmer John Lawson in hospital after his close call stuck in a silo.

Mr Lawson said he didn’t have time to panic and held onto a tarpaulin on the silo as hard as he could.

“Thankfully when the truck filled and the auger was switched off the driver heard me yelling, so he was calling out to his partner in the truck to call triple zero,” he said.

A huge rescue mission began with 15 to 20 vehicles on scene include fireys, paramedics and police.

“The police officer put his hand on my shoulder and said ‘We’re going to get you out!’” Mr Lawson recalled.

“Vaughan (Mason, QAS Officer in Charge) took a few tests on me to make sure I wasn’t going to cark it. It was bloody hot in there.”

Sharing his version of the events as a paramedic, Mr Mason said Mr Lawson was neck deep in the grain.

“The main priority was getting him out of the grain and stopping the grain walls from collapsing in at the same time,” he said.

Mr Mason said crews had to cut the side of the silo to release some of the grain so he could be freed.

He said as well as emergency crews, members of the public who were at the property assisted.

Mr Mason said there was a lot of risk involved with the rescue.

“Grain is very, very heavy and he was encapsulated, we’re guessing, for about 35 to 40 minutes before we were able to free him out,” he said.

“The more we dug out, the more the grain was collapsing around, there’s a lot of pressure in those tanks.”

And as always in a small town, Mr Mason knew his patient.

“This is a very tight little community and everyone chips in,” Mr Mason said.

“John has been a Local Ambulance Committee member (volunteer) for many years, as were four people involved in his rescue yesterday.”

Mr Lawson was freed from the silo just before 1.30pm and was taken to Baralaba Hospital where he felt a little guilty “jumping the queue” while patients were waiting to see the doctor.

He was then taken by ambulance by Mr Mason to Rockhampton Hospital and says he has received great care.

He did leave a memento behind in the silo – some chickens might be confused by a hearing aid in their food one day.

Mr Lawson says he still has a few silos of grain to empty.

“But I’ll be getting a crane next time, I won’t be getting in I can tell you,” he said.

At 78, Mr Lawson says he’s coming to the end of his run on the property, and while he’s off to Western Australia prospecting for gold at the end of March he’ll think about whether it’s time to sell his property.

He’s had a tough 12 months, with the death of his beloved wife Jan in January, and another close friend and neighbour before that.

Originally published as Baralaba farmer John Lawson shares terrifying ordeal trapped in grain silo