A 35-year-old woman was killed when she fell into a meat grinder at a processing plant in northern Pennsylvania.
Jill Greninger fell into the grinding machine at the meat company Economy Locker Storage Company in Muncy around 11:30am on Monday morning.
The meat company employee’s body was found after a co-worker heard strange noises coming from the commercial grinder.
Firefighters reportedly spent around 45 minutes taking the large machine apart to recover the woman’s remains.
It is not yet clear what caused the accident, but the Lycoming County coroner’s office said Ms Greninger may have been standing on a set of wheeled stairs prior to the fatal accident.
Lycoming County coroner Charles Kiessling Jr. said there weren’t any witnesses around at the time of the fall to shed any light on the incident.
“This is just a tragedy,” Mr Kiessling told ABC News. “She died inside the moving parts of the machine.
“We talked to the person who found her. He said he heard a noise and went to check on her and found her in the machine. He put the power down and called 911.”
He added: “I don’t know if she got caught with the moving parts and they pulled her in, or if she just slipped and fell. I don’t know and there’s no way of determining that.”
Ms Greninger’s neighbour told ABC affiliate WNEP: “Everyone is shaken and thinks that this is a tragedy that something like this had to happen to such a young lady.”
The death is now being investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Company officials have not responded to media requests for comment.
Additional reporting by AP
