The owner of Rocky Mountain Construction Services died Thursday afternoon when he was crushed while helping remove a large silo in the desert northwest of Delle.

Ron Samford, 50, died just before 1:30 p.m. when the "huge" silo he and two other employees were tearing down collapsed on him, said Tooele County sheriff's Chief Deputy Duke North.

The company was contracted six months ago to demolish the Marblehead facility several miles northwest of Delle off Interstate 80. The facility had produced lime, but had been unused for 15 to 20 years, North said.

The trio were using torches to drop two silos that sat side-by-side when one silo collapsed unexpectedly and crushed Samford, North said. Another worker suffered minor injuries but was not hospitalized; a third was uninjured, North said.

At 4:45 p.m., several agencies, including the Sheriff's Office, search and rescue crews, Unified Fire Authority and North Tooele Fire Department, were still using cranes to try to lift the silo off Samford.