Mom ‘Boiled Alive’ In Molten Caramel At Russian Candy Factory, Leaves Behind 10-Year-Old Son

A mother of a 10-year-old son was boiled alive in molten caramel at a Russian candy factory, and authorities are still sorting out competing theories of how the woman wound up in the predicament that cost her her life.

As The Sun reports, Natalia Nemets, 36, was cleaning a tank at a candy factory in Stary Oskol in the Belgorod Oblast region of the country, when molten caramel gushed in, trapping her inside. A fellow factory worker told Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that the victim did not indicate she was in danger.

“She did not cry, no other noise was heard.”

According to News Corp Australia, when workers didn’t see Nemets at her station, they began looking for her. When they looked around the vat she was supposed to have been cleaning, they were horrified to see only her feet sticking out of the vat. Workers let the caramel out of the vat and removed her body.

An anonymous worker said that she almost certainly died from the heat of the molten caramel.

“She got boiled alive, this is true.”

According to Crafty Baking, caramel, which essentially melted sugar, boils at 330 – 360 degrees Fahrenheit (165 – 182 degrees Celsius). By comparison, water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

Besides the danger of the molten caramel, the vat also contained blades that continually mixed the substance.

Meanwhile, factory officials are considering two competing theories as to how Nemets wound up inside the vat in the first place. One theory is that the high air pressure in the room caused her to faint, and she passed out and fell into the vat. A second theory is that she simply stumbled and fell in.

Meanwhile, townsfolk in the city where the factory is located say it’s the third death at the factory this year.

Nemets was married and left behind a husband and ten-year-old son, Ivan. Her sister, Yulu, told the Russian newspaper that Ivan is staying with her and her family until further notice.

This is not the first horrific story of a factory worker to be cooked alive in an industrial accident. As USA Today reported at the time, in 2012 a California man was cooked to death at a Bumble Bee tuna factory. Jose Melena, 62, was inside an industrial oven at the factory when other workers, not knowing he was in there, turned on the oven, cooking him alive.

[Featured Image by Tommy Lee Walker/Thinkstock]