This unfortunate event took place recently, while Giacomo Chiapparini was inspecting the maturing cheese wheels. The catalyst for this unfortunate incident was the collapse of a metal shelf within his warehouse, triggering a cascading chain of events.
Within the confines of the warehouse lay approximately 25,000 wheels of Grana Padano, each weighing a hefty 88 pounds.
From DW:
Firefighters worked for around 12 hours to free him from the cheese. They were only able to recover Chiapparini's body on Monday morning, when he was confirmed dead.
It is not clear what caused the shelf to collapse in the first place, but authorities suspect material fatigue or a technical fault.
An investigation is expected to determine whether it was one or multiple wheels of cheese that killed Chiapparini, a spokesperson for the Bergamo fire brigade said.
Chiapparini was the owner of the dairy factory, which produces Grana Padano, a hard cheese that resembles Parmesan.
The factory reportedly produces around 15,000 wheels of the cheese each year.
What a tragic accident.
I certainly hope someone is able to get these storage shelves reinforced so a terrible incident like this doesn't repeat itself.
