2 Workers Found Dead in Fertilizer Tank at Fruit Ranch

Two employees of a citrus and avocado ranch just outside the city were found dead Wednesday afternoon in a tank of liquid fertilizer in a lemon grove, officials said.

Ranch manager Mike Mobley discovered the bodies of Miguel Lopez, 35, and Palemon Rangel Yanez, 44, about 1:30 p.m. inside the nearly full, 1,000-gallon tank, which contained a sulfate-based fertilizer, the officials said.

Investigators believe that the men climbed into the tank to clean it and were overcome by fumes that had built up inside.

Carmen Lopez, the 30-year-old wife of Miguel Lopez and mother of their 2-month-old baby, said she became concerned when her husband failed to return home from work Tuesday night.

She said she called hospitals and law enforcement officials throughout the night and then contacted ranch officials Wednesday. The ranch on Telegraph Road is owned by MVP Properties of Oxnard.

According to officials, the men were assigned about 4 p.m. Tuesday to clean the tank, one of four white, polyurethane receptacles that sit side by side in the grove. Neither was wearing any protective clothing, other than rubber work boots, witnesses said.

The fertilizer in the tanks is used to stimulate growth in avocado, lemon and orange trees at the ranch. Investigators took air and fertilizer samples after the incident to test for abnormalities.

No signs of trauma were found on the bodies, and there was no evidence of foul play, authorities said. Nonetheless, detectives were investigating several possibilities, including homicide and suicide.

“We really don’t know what happened. We are treating this as a crime scene. If it is determined that this was an industrial accident, then the investigation will shift focus,” said Ventura County Senior Sheriff’s Deputy Kim Garrett.

One aspect that puzzles investigators is that the tank, about 9 feet in diameter, has only one small opening, a hole on top that is about 20 inches across.

“You don’t fall into that size of a hole,” said Ventura County Fire Battalion Chief Ranger Dorn.

But the theory that both men crawled inside the tank to clean it also puzzled investigators, who were planning to interview ranch employees about the usual procedures for cleaning the tanks.

The bodies, both fully clothed, were pulled from the tank about 4:30 p.m. after firefighters cut a wider entry hole to reach them.

The site between Fillmore and Santa Paula is the former Spalding Ranch, which records show was sold a couple of years ago. The current owner is Prasad D. Mummaneni of Oxnard.