Scary visuals! People run for their lives as massive grain silo collapses, video goes viral

In a scary visual from Illinois in the United States, people, including first responders, can be seen running for their lives as a massive grain bin collapsed.

According to USA Today, the event reportedly occured on Wednesday, October 15, in Watseka, a small city in Iroquois County. The grain bin in the city about 145 kilometers south of Chicago, contained more than 30,000 bushels (816 ton) of harvested soy beans before the plunge.

Here's what happened:

The Iroquois County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) said that in a fortunate coincident, local firefighters were already on the scene for an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) call when they noticed a “structural issue” with the grain bin.

They soon called for additional first responders, who helped evacuated people from the collapse zone.

After nearly an hour of firefighters looking for a potential fix for the silo, the grain bin collapsed.

Watch scary video here:

The video, shot by a Watseka Fire Department firefighter, is going viral on social media.

In the viral video, soybeans can be seen bursting out of the side of the silo, creating a massive plume of dust. All onlookers, which included the workers and the first responders, can be seen running away from the collapse zone.

“Get back,” a person can be heard shouting in the video.

‘No injuries, but…’

The local EMA reported no injuries during the wild episode, but the officials said that the collapse took down power lines and utility poles in the area, causing power failure.

The power in the area was restored by Thursday, October 16.

What caused silo to collapse?

EMA officials said that the cause of the crash is unknown and still remains under investigation.

Here's how netizens reacted:

Social media users alleged that the collapse was an attempted insurance fraud and joked about how the “soy boys” will have to go without it for a while.

“Intended market shakeout or insurance fraud out of desparation...or both?” a user asked.

“Guess the farmers will get an insurance payment now since the Chinese aren’t buying,” another user added.

A user said, “I hate insurance ‘industry’ tbh, a terrible business-model that is basically incentizing people to break things when faced with tough-time rather than build more things. It is no different than rent-seeking or leeching-off the back of workers and farmers.”

“China refused to buy it and now the silo also refused to hold it,” quipped a user.

“They’re just finding another excuse to dump the soybeans into the sea again,” a user claimed.

“Real Tofu Engineering,” joked a user. One user said, “So many soy boys will have to go without their staple.”

“The infrastructure in America is just so bad,” exclaimed another user.