Crews locate body of missing worker in Bristol silo collapse

BRISTOL TWP., Pa. (WPVI) -- Authorities say they have discovered the body of a worker who went missing when a silo collapsed at an industrial site in Bristol Township.

The worker is identified as 48-year-old Tony Gabriele of Tullytown.

The collapse happened around midnight Thursday at an industrial warehouse complex in the 7900 block of North Radcliffe Street in Bristol Township.

"My brother was a great guy, everybody loved him," John Gabriele told Action News last week.

Officials say Tony Gabriele became trapped sometime before his shift ended when a cement silo at the Riverside Industrial Complex collapsed.

"We have made every effort we can to go through and search for the victim - technical rescue, local fire companies, rescue dogs. And at this point we have deemed that it was going to go from a rescue effort to a recovery effort." Edgely Fire Company Chief Carl Pierce told Action News.

Several fire departments and the Bucks County Technical Rescue Task Force responded to the scene trying to locate Gabriele in the debris, but couldn't.

Dr. David Jaslow of the Bucks County Technical Rescue explains, "This is the most complicated technical rescue incident you could ever come across in the United States. This is a combination of a building collapse and what we call an 'engulfment scenario' where all these potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds of dry concrete rushed down like an avalanche and bury everything in its sight."

Based on all of the factors, including the bitter cold, Dr. Jaslow determined there was no chance Gabriele could have survived the collapse.

Gabriele worked at the Silvi Company, located within the industrial complex.

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is investigating this accident.