Teens electrocuted while de-tasseling corn
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Two young farm workers were electrocuted and eight others injured in an accident Monday while they were removing tassels from corn in rural northwestern Illinois.
The Whiteside County Sheriff's Department reported four crew members, including the two who died, came into contact with a field irrigator near the village of Tampico. Several others also felt the shock.
Jade Garza and Hannah Kendall, both 14, of Sterling, were pronounced dead at CGH Medical Center in Sterling.
Two others were seriously injured in the accident. One was airlifted to St. Anthony's Hospital in Rockford in critical condition. The other was being treated at CGH Medical Center. Authorities did not give the names and ages of the other victims.
Six workers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Tristen Dudley, 13, of Rock Falls told Sauk Valley Media he was one of the workers who saw the girls being electrocuted. He said several others tried to help them.
"I heard them yelling. I went over to help," Dudley said. "I didn't do anything because I would have been sucked in."
Dudley said the field was filled with water, which conducts electricity.
"It was like a pond," he said.
About 72 people working for St. Louis-based Monsanto Corp. were de-tasseling corn when the accident occurred. Spokesman Mark Cavenaile said the company has shut down its de-tasseling operations in the Sterling-Rock Falls area for the time being.
"It's cautionary," Cavenaile said. "We've never had an incident like this before."
Cavenaile said more than 1,000 people have been working for Monsanto this summer. They receive training and are told to walk around irrigation systems.
Cavenaile said the accident has been reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.