Boy, 18, seriously-injured after falling 30 feet into abandoned silo

• A group of teens were trespassing in a silo near Deer Trail when disaster struck
• Emergency services launched a treacherous five hour rescue mission 
• Teen was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries on Sunday morning

A Colorado teenager has been dramatically rescued after plunging 30 feet while trespassing inside an abandoned nuclear missile silo.

The 18-year-old boy was left with serious injuries after he fell down an ‘elevator like shaft’ landed at the pitch black bunker in Araphoe County.

The teen was with seven other friends at 3.30am on Sunday when their adventure went horribly wrong.

Rescuers were scrambled to the scene near the town of Deer Trail and managed to use the teenagers’ screams to locate them after two hours of searching. It was a further three hours before they were able to get the injured boy out.

‘I’ve never done anything like this before in my life,’ firefighter Tyler Loveless told the Denver Gazette, as he described the treacherous rescue mission. ‘Literally death is around every corner.’

A Colorado teenager has been dramatically rescued plunging 30 feet while exploring a pitch-black abandoned nuclear missile silo

Rescuers described seeing ‘death round every corner’ as the structure was littered debris and jagged metal

Rescuers described seeing ‘death round every corner’ as the structure was littered wit hazards including debris and jagged metal

He described the silo as, ‘a maze of tunnels and loose metal and wires,’ filled with potential hazards.

‘All those who went down there are very lucky to be alive,’ said Loveless. ‘Not just the one who fell, but every single one of them because of one wrong turn and who knows.’

Loveless worked alongside his father Deer Trail Fire Department Chief Richard Loveless as part of a team of 16 rescuers who risked their lives to help rescue the teens.

‘Fear was the only thing going through my mind,’ Loveless Sr. explained. ‘The dangers are more real than most people probably understand.

‘There’s not only the danger of the noxious gases that can kill you in there — from when the military had nitrogen, kerosene — but there’s the dangers of all of the rusty jagged metal.’

The mission was further complicated by the lack of signal within the catacombs.

‘There was a time where we didn’t have communication with anyone for about 30 minutes or so. So it was just me and my partner,’ Firefighter Travis Daniels told Live 5 News.

‘Once we found the patient using the rope system that we have, we hoisted him up. It was a relief, big step accomplished. … A lot goes into it.’

Rescuers were scrambled to the scene near the town of Deer Trail and managed to use the teenagers’ screams to locate them after two hours of searching

Video taken from inside the creepy silo shows jagged metal poking out across the dark, dank tunnels

The silo contains hazards such as debris, but also stagnant water which contains cancer-causing chemicals

Video taken from inside the creepy silo shows jagged metal poking out across the dark, dank tunnels.

The teens managed to gain access to the silo by crawling in through a 12 inch gap in a broken fence.

The structure has been abandoned for the last 60 years after initially being designed as a shelter built during the panic of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War.

The Titan 1 missile silo was one of the first strategic, intercontinental ballistic missiles developed by the United States, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The 98-foot-long, two-stage missile was fueled by kerosene (RP-1 fuel) and liquid oxygen, and was designed to carry nuclear warheads.

A 2009 site inspection of the silo near Deer Trail showed cancer-causing chemicals in the waters.

The structure is no longer owned by the US military and sits on private property.

Once we found the patient using the rope system that we have, we hoisted him up.

The teens managed to gain access to the silo by crawling in through a 12 inch gap in a broken fence

The structure has been abandoned for the last 60 years after initially being designed as a shelter built during the panic of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War

No further details have been released about the teens except that two, including the injured party, were 18-years-old.

Only the non-injured person has so far been given a summons on charges of third-degree trespassing.

However the rest of the group could face the same charge.

Officials are now pleading with the public to stay away from the area citing the potential risks if something goes wrong.

‘We responded knowing we’d be in for a difficult rescue,’  Sable Altura Fire Chief Rich Solomon told CBS.

‘Inside the facility, it’s cave darkness, so there’s no light unless you bring it with you. There’s only the person next to you that you can hear.’

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