PARKERSBURG - An Aplington man is in critical condition after his grain semi collided with a train near Sinclair Elevator Inc., a few miles east of Parkersburg, on Wednesday afternoon.

Byron Johnson, age unavailable, was airlifted by helicopter to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, where he was listed in critical condition. He was later flown to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City.

Johnson's semi, bearing the logo of Johnson Swine of Aplington, appeared to be southbound when it was reportedly hit by an eastbound Chicago Northern train. The cab was nearly unrecognizable as pieces littered an adjacent ditch and creek off Sinclair Avenue.

"It's totaled," said Butler County Sheriff Shane Oldenburger.

Randy Arends of Parkersburg, a Sinclair employee, was working at the time of the accident.

"I was farther away, I heard a bang," Arends said. "It's just destroyed."

It looked like the driver didn't hear the bells or see the train approaching, said Ron Kolder of Parkersburg, another Sinclair employee. Kolder added the "local farmer" was bound for the Sinclair elevator.

"I bet he wasn't paying attention is all it was," Kolder said. "There's lights (at the crossing) and everything, and it's wide open. He just didn't see it."

It happens, Kolder said. His brother got hit by a train six or seven years ago in Parkersburg.

"It was the same thing, he just didn't see it," Kolder said.

The driver may have been distracted by an accident being cleaned up less than a mile south. It happened at the intersection of Iowa Highway 57 and Sinclair Avenue, said Sgt. Randy Olmstead of the Iowa State Patrol.

A cement truck was passing a semi that was trying to turn onto Sinclair Avenue toward the elevator, Kolder said. The semi turned and ran into the cement truck.

"Lucky enough they were both OK," Kolder said.

Contact Tina Hinz at (319) 291-1484 or tina.hinz@wcfcourier.com.