A coroner says a Wisconsin farmer and more than a dozen cattle died when they became overcome by fumes from a huge manure holding tank.
WAOW-TV reports that 29-year-old Michael Biadasz was found by other farm workers early Monday when they arrived at Biadasz Farms near Amherst to haul away manure from the football field-sized tank.
Portage County Coroner Scott Rifleman said Tuesday that the deaths of Biadasz and at least 13 cows are under investigation, but that they were probably overcome by methane or sulfur oxide. Rifleman says the farmer agitated the tank and that this, along with warm upper air temperatures, created a deadly dome of air.
Other cows were also sickened by the fumes.
Amherst is about 140 miles northwest of Milwaukee.
WAOW – Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports
Three more cattle have died, pushing the total to 16, after a “deadly dome of air” formed at an Amherst farm’s manure holding tank, also killing a 29-year-old farmer, the owner said Wednesday.
Bob Biadasz, co-owner of Biadasz Farms, said the tragedy that killed his son, Michael Biadasz, happened only because of unusual and unexpected weather conditions that created a “perfect storm.”
The father mourned his son by parking a line of machinery along a road that travels past the farm as a tribute – a blue tractor, red trucks and his son’s black pickup truck.
It was not immediately known whether more cattle that got sickened were critically ill.
Michael Biadasz was found dead about 6:30 a.m. Monday when some other workers arrived to begin the process of hauling away manure from the football-field-size tank, authorities have said.
Biadasz was overcome by either methane or sulfur oxide fumes that got trapped in a “deadly dome of air” but more investigation will be needed to know exactly, the coroner said.
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A 29-year-old farmer and at least 13 cows died when they were overcome by a “deadly dome of air” from a manure holding tank near Amherst, Portage County Coroner Scott Rifleman said Tuesday.
Michael Biadasz was found dead about 6:30 a.m. Monday at Biadasz Farms when some other workers arrived to begin the process of hauling away manure from the football-field-size tank, Rifleman said.
Biadasz was overcome by either methane or sulfur oxide fumes but more investigation will be needed to know exactly, the coroner said.
The farmer, who owns a large operation with his father, had agitated the tank before it was to be pumped out and a “perfect storm” of weather conditions, including warmer upper air temperatures, trapped a “deadly dome of air,” Rifleman said.
Biadasz had performed the tank-emptying task probably hundreds of times, the coroner said.
“I know of 13 dead cows. There were others that were sick. I am unsure if any more died,” Rifleman said late Tuesday afternoon. “The family is devastated, absolutely devastated.
