A cheesemaker died after being crushed by thousands of Grana Padano cheese rounds in his factory in Italy's Bergamo on Sunday, according to local authorities.
The 74-year-old Giacomo Chiapparini entered the aging room of his factory to check the automatic robot used to clean the cheese rounds in his company's warehouse, reported CNN. There were around 10 corridors of shelves with approximately 1,600 cheese rounds in each corridor.
Authorities described the collapse as a "domino effect", after a 30-feet high shelf holding the wheels, crumbled. Each of the wheels weighed 20 kg. It took over 11 hours to find Chiapparini's body after the Carabineri, Italy's police force, the fire brigade and ambulance services were called to the scene.
"When we got there, the whole warehouse was full of cheese wheels on top of one another. We had to call the unit that specializes in the search and rescue of people under the rubble, especially after an earthquake. They spent hours moving the wheels by hand, one by one, and found his body only in the morning," NBC News quoted Daniele Retto, a spokesperson for the fire brigade department.
Chiapparini's friend and neighbour, Bortolo Ghislotti, said that the automatic machine sent an alarm, and when the 74-year-old man restarted it, everything fell on him. His further called his death an "inexplicable tragedy".
The factory was founded in the 1970s and produces 15,000 wheels of Grana Padano cheese every year, as per the company's website. Chiapparini's family also lives and works in the factory, according to the Carabinieri spokesperson.
His funeral will be held on Thursday.
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