SIX people are dead in what authorities described as a “dairy accident.”
Authorities swiftly responded to a dairy facility in Weld County, Colorado, just over an hour from Denver, where they discovered the bodies of six people within a restricted area.
Officials with the Southeast Weld Fire Protection District arrived at the site and conducted a rescue operation in a “confined space.”
When crews entered the space, they found six people dead
“Crews responded and took appropriate precautions to enter the confined space to perform rescue operations,” the fire protection district wrote.
“Unfortunately, District personnel recovered six deceased individuals from the space.”
Fire officials did not release the age, genders, or names of the victims.
Additional details about what the confined space was, or what property the accident occurred on were not released.
An incident classified as a dairy accident involves a severe, frequently deadly, event that takes place on a dairy farm or during dairy operations, as outlined by the Law Office of Gary C. Nelson.
The Dairy Farmers of America, a cooperative for milk marketing, verified to ABC affiliate KMGH-TV that the tragedy happened at one of its affiliated farms in Keenesburg, a locale approximately 40 miles northeast of Denver.
“We are profoundly saddened by this tragedy, and our most heartfelt condolences are extended to the friends and families of those who lost their lives,” expressed the cooperative.
The outlet spoke to a former employee at the location, who said the victims were his friends.
“They started working here about six years ago,” the man, who identified himself to the outlet as Inés, said of the victims.
“They couldn’t tell me what happened, but something happened.
“That’s why I came because they were my friends.”
The Weld County Sheriff’s Office said “nothing criminal in nature was discovered” at the scene, according to USA Today.
The sheriff’s office added that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will investigate the incident.
Weld County has a population of about 360,000, according to the county’s fact sheet.
