Man dies after falling into vat of chocolate in NJ

[WriteDown]

Source: AP

CAMDEN, N.J. – Authorities say a man has died after falling into a vat of melted chocolate in a New Jersey processing plant.

The Camden County prosecutor's office identified the victim as 29-year-old Vincent Smith II of Camden. He was a temporary worker at the Cocoa Services Inc. plant.

The accident happened Wednesday morning as Smith was loading chocolate into a vat where it's melted and mixed before being shipped elsewhere to be made into candy.

Prosecutor's spokesman Jason Laughlin says a co-worker tried to shut off the machine and two others tried to pull Smith out of the 8-foot-deep vat. He was hit and fatally injured by the agitator that mixes the chocolate.

Cocoa Services hires a second company — Lyons and Sons — to do the mixing.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090709/ap_on_re_us/us_chocolate_death_4

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I'm don't have a sweet tooth. Make mine a vat of Jack Daniels. Preferably, single barrel.

[Bicoastal]

1. Yikes! Death by Chocolate is real!! n/t

[marshall]

36. At least that beats the guy who fell in a vat of sewage

It could have been worse.

[nolabear]

2. I knw this is irreverent as hell, but---

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDonSwXPUZU

[JBoy]

24. Thanks for that! I love the Smothers Brothers.

[pinto]

3. Bizarre, sad accident. Apparently the chocolate was @ 120 degrees.

And the guy got hit with one of the mixer blades as co-workers tried to pull him out.

[Psephos]

4. what a horrifying death n/t

[Dennis Donovan]

5. What's even sadder is that his ever-faithful pet rabbit followed him in...

[Kool Kitty]

6. .....

:spank:

[thelordofhell]

7. Was he related to Augustus Gloop?

Oompa loompa doopadee doo
I've got a perfect puzzle for you
Oompa loompa doopadee dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me

What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?
Eating as much as an elephant eats
What are you at getting terribly fat?
What do you think will come of that?

I don't like the look of it

Oompa loompa doopadee dah
If you're not greedy, you will go far
You will live in happiness too
Like the Oompa Loompa doopadee doo

Doopadee doo

[napoleon_in_rags]

11. Wow, 7 responses before somebody started singing the Oompa loompa song...

Not bad... ;)

[thelordofhell]

12. Willy Wonka is being out-posted by The Smothers Brothers

2 to 1

:silly:

[napoleon_in_rags]

16. I'm kinda disappointed, being a fellow Willy Wonka man myself. ;) nt

[Grinchie]

13. Augustus Gloop, That Great Big Greedy Nin-com-poop

I tend to like the Danny Elfman version a little better...

[kimmylavin]

15. Ah...

Me too.
Perfect combination of Roald Dahl's freaky words, and Elfman's wonderfully weird music... :)

[lordsummerisle]

8. I'm sorry...

but it triggered a 'falling into a vat' old joke:


Brenda O'Malley is home making dinner, as usual, when Tim Finnegan arrives at her door.

"Brenda, may I come in?" he asks. "I've somethin' to tell ya."

"Of course you can come in, you're always welcome, Tim. But where's my husband?"

"That's what I'm here to be tellin' ya, Brenda. There was an accident down at the Guinness brewery..."

"Oh, God no!" cries Brenda. "Please don't tell me.."

"I must, Brenda. Your husband Shamus is dead and gone. I'm sorry."

Finally, she looked up at Tim. "How did it happen, Tim?"

"It was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned."

"Oh my dear Jesus! But you must tell me true Tim. Did he at least go quickly?"

"Well, no Brenda... no. Fact is, he got out three times to pee."

[KansDem]

32. That reminds me of this joke...

Lost at Sea, two Irishmen, Patrick & Michael, were adrift in a lifeboat following a dramatic escape from a burning freighter. While rummaging through the boat's provisions, Patrick stumbled across an old lamp. Secretly hoping that a genie would appear, he rubbed the lamp vigorously.

To his amazement, a genie came forth. This particular genie, however, stated that he could only deliver one wish, not the standard three. Without giving much thought to the matter, Patrick blurted out, "Make the entire ocean into Guinness Beer! The genie clapped his hands with a deafening crash, and immediately the entire sea turned into the finest brew ever sampled by mortals.

Simultaneously, the genie vanished. Only the gentle lapping of Guinness on the hull broke the stillness as the two men considered their circumstances. Michael looked disgustedly at Patrick and after a long, tension filled moment, he spoke. "Nice going Patrick! Now we're going to have to pee in the boat."

[jmowreader]

34. Or this one...

From a letter from a Kentucky mother to her son in the Army:

"I am sad to report that your uncle Fred drowned last week when he fell into a vat at the public distillery. Five men jumped in to save him but he fought them off bravely. They cremated him and it took two days to put the fire out."

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. Old Smothers Brothers routine:

(Singing)
Yesterday I fell into a vat of chocolate
Yesterday I fell into a vat of chocolate
Yesterday I fell into a vat of chocolate
Lolly-do-dum-lolly-do-dum-day

What did you do when you fell into the chocolate?
What did you do when you fell into the chocolate?
What did you do when you fell into the chocolate?
Lolly-do-dum-lolly-do-dum-day

I yelled "Fire!" when I fell into the chocolate
I yelled "Fire!" when I fell into the chocolate
I yelled "Fire!" when I fell into the chocolate
Lolly-do-dum-lolly-do-dum-day

Tom: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Why did you yell "Fire!" when you fell into the chocolate?
Dick: Because no one would have rescued me if I yelled "CHOCOLATE!"

(And for those of you who don't know who the Smothers Brothers are/were: Get off my damn lawn!)

RIP, Mr. Smith.

[Bette Noir]

10. Damn.

My condolences to his family.

[Judi Lynn]

14. As hard as it may seem for some to grasp, a terrifying lonely death has no humorous aspects. n/t

[thelordofhell]

18. The day I take death seriously is the day I die

It's a shame you fear death so much that you can't see the humor in how people sometimes leave this mortal plane.

:eyes:

[Berry Cool]

20. Has nothing to do with fear

but rather with respect for the dead.

I wouldn't laugh uproariously at your death. I hope you wouldn't at mine.

Chuckles the Clown was just a fake TV character, after all.

[WriteDown]

27. We may laugh at your death if it was a tragic comedy....

Or traumedy. Points for whoever gets the reference.

[thelordofhell]

29. Depends on how you die

If you die because a piano or a safe fell on your head, you'd be foolish to think that when it gets published in a public forum, millions of people wouldn't be making fun of the rather cartoonish aspect of a grisly death?

And tell me, wouldn't respect for the dead be to not publish the way a person died?

You can have respect for the dead all you want, I will celebrate the life.

[thelordofhell]

17. Soylent Chocolate?

:spray:

[Hubert Flottz]

19. And I thought there was no sweet way to die...

Tried a Smitty Bar?

[PfcHammer]

21. These workplace accidents seem to happen to the least protected

Immigrants, nonunion, temps, etc

[WriteDown]

22. That is true....

Begs the question though. What makes you more likely to fall into a vat as a temp?

[izquierdista]

25. Lack of status

Lack of training, lack of proper protective equipment (both personal and guardrails), lack of union safety work rules, lack of enough staff to do the job safely, but it sure wasn't because the company had a lack of profit.

[WriteDown]

26. If this wasn't New Jersey and was say Alabama...

I may agree with you. In Germany, a worker fell into a vat recently too. I don't think anything can prevent some accidents. I would love to know what this guy was doing before he fell into the chocolate.

[Odin2005]

23. One can think of a lot of jokes involving this, but that would be tasteless (unlike the chocolate).

:yoiks:

[guitar man]

28. How Sad

Condolences to his family :(

I just hope that by the time he reaches the afterlife, he hasn't been barred....

[dysfunctional press]

30. sweet...

[kitty1]

31. If this had been milk chocolate, would a creamation be in order

[MadMaddie]

33. Is it just me or are we seeing more and more industrial type

accidents? Can this be a result of the * era of weakening safety rules?

[Posteritatis]

35. We're seeing more of them in the news

Whether that means there's more of them or the news is covering them more often, I don't know. The two are rarely synonymous, anyway.