Man rescued from Somerville paper silo

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WHDH) -- Fire crews carefully extracted a man from inside a paper silo in Somerville on Thursday evening.

The worker got stuck while trying to fix a jam. Carlos Barbosa, 47, used his cell phone to talk to the rescuers as they worked to rescue him.

“Well we got a call for a guy that was trapped in a silo and when we got here, he was in there so he was in there with the paper,” said Dep. Chief Robert Lyons of the Somerville Fire Department. “The silo was filled almost to the top with paper and we had no idea really where he was, just trying to determine where he was, was our biggest problem and he was covered in paper.”

The silo, located at Universal Wilde on Third Avenue in Somerville, was loaded with shredded paper that got jammed. That’s when Barbosa was loaded inside, but he got trapped after more paper cascaded down.

“He was covered in paper. We were actually lucky that we had been talking to him on his cell phone,” Dep. Chief Lyons said. “So we knew he was in there; we knew he was alive and that he was doing alright. But he kept saying every time we moved something he was getting crushed more, so it was a nerve-wracking job.”

When Firefighters arrived, it was a race against time as the victim continued to sink into the paper.

Rescue crews had to cut into the side of the silo to reach Barbosa. He was treated and released from Massachusetts General Hospital. He is said to be doing okay.

Officials continue to investigate what happened.

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