A FACTORY worker was killed in a horrific accident after getting stuck inside an industrial oven.
Nicolas Lopez Gomez, 38, known professionally as Edward Avila, tragically lost his life during the process of cleaning a massive oven at the Gilster Marylee Cereal Plant located in Perryville, Missouri, which is approximately 80 miles south of St. Louis.
On Thursday, around 3:00 pm, Gomez was reportedly power-washing the massive machine from the outside.
It’s unclear how he ended up inside the shut-down oven; however, foul play isn’t suspected.
Terrified co-workers desperately called 911 to save Gomez once they realized he had been trapped.
Less than 20 minutes following the arrival of emergency services, the Perry County Coroner was requested to declare Gomez deceased at the location, according to a release from the Perryville Police Department.
The oven wasn’t running at the time of the incident, so it’s unknown at this time what injuries Gomez may have suffered.
The incident is being investigated by the coroner and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The Glister Marylee factory makes cereals with huge suppliers such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Albertsons.
SICK SIMILARITIES
Gomez’s bizarre death comes just eight months after a 19-year-old was baked to death inside a walk-in oven while working at a Canadian Walmart.
Gursimran Kaur’s charred body was found by her mother inside a bakery oven at the store in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 19.
The mother and daughter duo had been residents in Canada for only a brief period of three months after relocating from India, where Kaur’s father and brother remained. In Canada, they found employment together at Walmart.
On the day of the incident, Kaur’s mother couldn’t find her for over an hour as her phone was suddenly turned off and unreachable.
Then, a bakery section employee noticed a strange leakage from inside the walk-in oven, which led to Kaur’s mother making the horrific discovery.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene; however, Kaur was declared dead.
Foul play was quickly ruled out, but the store was closed until February 3 for renovations.
“It’s great to have our customers and our associates back in the store,” Nick Ritcey, a spokesperson for Walmart Canada, told CBC.
“Obviously, the tragedy is still top of mind and it’s something that will be sad forever.”
When police said the store could reopen, Walmart confirmed that it would remove the walk-in oven.
“This is an extremely sad and difficult situation,” said Walmart spokesperson Amanda Moss.
“Removing the oven had always been part of the standard remodel program we are implementing across the country.
“Now that the stop-work order has been lifted by the Department of Labor, the oven will be removed from this store and will no longer be used.”
The U.S. Sun has reached out to the Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation for comment.
