Grandfather crushed to death by 25,000 cheese wheels at warehouse in Italy, reports say
A grandfather and dairy farm owner was found dead after a warehouse accident caused shelves holding thousands of cheese wheels to collapse in Italy, according to news reports.
Giacomo Chiapparini, 75, was in his warehouse in Bergamo on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 6, the Italian news outlet ANSA reported. The warehouse held 25,000 wheels of cheese on shelves up to about 33 feet tall, the outlet reported.
Each wheel of grana padano cheese, a type of “parmesan-style hard cheese,” weighs about 88 pounds, firefighters told Agence France-Presse.
Chiapparini was checking on the cheese “when a shelf broke” and started “a domino effect,” causing the other shelves to collapse, firefighters told AFP.
The sound alerted people nearby who called for help, ANSA reported.
Rescuers searched the warehouse all night and found Chiapparini’s body on the morning of Monday, Aug. 7, the Italian news outlet Il Messaggero reported.
The accident might have been caused by a failure or other malfunction in the mechanical system that rotates the cheese wheels, the outlet reported.
Chiapparini started and owned the Azienda Agricola Chiapparini Giacomo dairy farm, Il Messaggero reported. The farm is run by him, his children and grandchildren, the outlet reported.
Other local dairy farmers are hoping to save the cheese wheels to prevent the farm from suffering even further economic losses, ANSA reported.
Bergamo is about 30 miles northeast of Milan.
Google Translate was used to translate the articles from ANSA and Il Messaggero.
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