By Don Sweeney
The Charlotte Observer
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — An 18-year-old man who fell 30 feet while exploring an abandoned missile silo required an hours-long rescue, Colorado sheriff’s officials reported.
Deputies responded at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, May 5, to a report of an injured man in an old missile silo in Deer Trail, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Rescue efforts are underway for a teenager who fell about 30 feet inside an abandoned missile silo near the town of Deer Trail. It happened around 3:30 a.m. near 82000 E. County Road 22.
— Arapahoe Sheriff (@ArapahoeSO) May 5, 2024
A group of teenagers gained access to the entrance of the silo when one of them fell in the… pic.twitter.com/FGDrpsaobi
He was part of a group of teens who crawled through a broken gate to explore the closed military facility, deputies said.
Rescuers met two boys and three girls outside the silo, deputies said. They told rescuers that two other teens remained inside the silo with the injured 18-year-old.
One rescuer described the silo as “a mess” with “twisted metal, collapsed floors, concrete pieces everywhere,” KDVR reported.
Chief Rich Solomon of Sable Altura Fire Rescue called it an “underground city that’s been utterly destroyed and abandoned inside,” KCNC reported. He said firefighters found “seemingly endless tunnels of danger.”
Crews rescued the two teens at 6 a.m. and reached the injured 18-year-old at 6:30 a.m., deputies said. He was rescued and airlifted to a hospital at 8:30 a.m.
He was reported to be in critical condition but is expected to survive, KDVR reported.
Another 18-year-old in the group was cited for trespassing, deputies said. The other teens and injured 18-year-old also may face charges. All are high school students.
The former silo is one of six in eastern Colorado that once housed Titan I intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment told KCNC.
Deer Trail is about a 60-mile drive east from Denver.
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