New Jersey Man Dies after Falling into Vat of Boiling Chocolate

A 22 year old factory worker has died after falling into a giant vat of boiling chocolate that was destined to end up in Hershey’s candy products.

Vincent Smith II, 29, was working on a platform near the vat of chocolate while it was being mixed and processed at a plant owned by Lyons and Sons in Camden, NJ, when he apparently got too close and fell in. Another worker nearby rushed to turn off the machine but Smith had already been hit by the mixing paddles in the tank and was submerged in the 120 degree chocolate. Firemen who responded to the 911 call pulled him out of the machine.

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy revealed his cause of death to be asphyxiation, or drowning.