Bumble Bee Tuna Plant Worker Killed After Being Cooked In Oven

October 15, 2012 at 8:35 am by Morbid  

Santa Fe Springs, CA — According to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, a 62-year-old man working at a Bumble Bee tuna plant died after he was cooked inside an oven.

Sometime around 7 a.m. Thursday, Jose Malena was found inside a cooking device they are calling a “steamer machine.” Paramedics were called but they pronounced Malena dead as soon as they arrived.

Although they know who the man is, the coroner’s office is having some issues positively identifying Malena because of how badly his body was damaged in the machine. He died as a result of being “trapped in a pressure cooker,” Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said, bringing up images that do not play well with the breakfast burritos I ate earlier.

An investigation is currently underway in hopes of finding out how Malena, who had worked at the factory for six years, ended up inside the machine. I did a little Googling to find out exactly what this steamer machine looks like, and found some images of an industrial tuna steamer sold by JBT. I also learned how canned tuna is made in the process.

Bumble Bee Foods spokesman Pat Menke said in a written statement, ”The entire Bumble Bee Foods family is saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Melena family.”  The plant was shut down after the accident, but is supposed to resume operations this morning.

As horrific as this sounds, being cooked inside an industrial tuna steamer is just one of the may ways we have people have died at work that we’ve reported on over the years. We have articles on people dying in pinto beans and chocolate; being pulled into meat grinders, industrial dryers, wood chippers, and paper rolling machines; and one guy who died because of an exploding beer keg.

33 Comments

• 

• Tweet