TOPEKA ? A spokesman for a federal agency says determining the cause of a grain elevator explosion in northeast Kansas could take up to six months.

Spokesman Scott Allen said Tuesday that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has several inspectors at a Bartlett Grain Co. elevator in Atchison, about 50 miles northwest of Kansas City. The elevator exploded Saturday, killing six people.

Allen said the investigation of the cause will take months while OSHA interviews employees and company officials about the blast. He said investigations involving deaths typically are more complex.

He said it’s also too early to talk about the elevator’s future and whether it will have to be razed.

Fine, highly combustible particles flow through elevator buildings as grain is moved, and a spark can ignite it.