A small memorial was set outside the abandoned Bunge grain
elevator after Emily Roland, a University of Minnesota student, died when she
fell in the Como neighborhood elevator in Minneapolis, Minn. The elevator was
photographed Tuesday, June 9, 2015. Jeffrey Thompson | MPR News
The Minneapolis Fire Department said Emily Roland, a
University of Minnesota student, died when she fell in the abandoned Bunge
grain elevator in the Como neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minn. The elevator was
photographed Tuesday, June 9, 2015. Jeffrey Thompson | MPR News
JUNE 8, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has identified a woman
who died after a fall in a Minneapolis grain elevator Saturday.
Emily Roland, 20, of Cottage Grove died from multiple
blunt-force injuries. University of Minnesota spokesperson Joe Koktan said
Roland was a sophomore enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts.
The Minneapolis Fire Department said Roland was in the
abandoned grain Bunge elevator in the Como neighborhood of the city when she
fell nearly three stories inside the building.
Paul Williams, president of Project for Pride in Living, a
non-profit housing developer that bought the elevator in 2006, said addressing
security at the Bunge grain elevator is a top priority, something his
organization has always taken seriously.
"We've welded some of those doors and windows shut.
We've had different coverings over. We've had a fence that's been up that
continually gets pulled down or gets cut. We have our own security that four to
five times a week actually checks in," he said. "It's an ongoing challenge,
and we've been really diligent about it."
In 2006, before Project for Pride in Living bought the
elevator, another person died at the site from a similar fall.
Williams said the nonprofit would consider demolishing the
grain elevator.
Minneapolis Fire Deputy Chief Todd White said while the
structure is standing empty, it will be difficult to keep people out.
"No matter what the owner does, or whoever has it,
outside of 24 hour security, they're a curious object to children, young
adults, transients," White said. "They get inside and don't realize
the dangers and perils."
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WOMAN DIES AFTER FALL IN OLD MINNEAPOLIS GRAIN ELEVATOR
The Associated Press · Minneapolis · Jun 7, 2015
A woman has died after falling off a ladder at an abandoned
Minneapolis grain elevator.
The woman was exploring the Bunge Tower, a vacant grain
elevator in Minneapolis' Como neighborhood, when she fell off a ladder, crashed
through a wooden floor and plummeted into a 30-foot steel bin Saturday night.
A Minneapolis Fire Department technical crew pulled the
woman out around 10:30 p.m. It took an hour and a half for rescuers to bring
the woman down the 10-story building, a rescue complicated by rain. She was taken
to Hennepin County Medical Center, but the fire department says she died from
her severe injuries. The woman's name has not been released.
In 2006, a 20-year-old University of Minnesota student died
when she fell from the same elevator.
