A man drowned in a tank of molasses in Michigan.
Authorities say the 23 year-old victim died while working on a maintenance issue. It happened last week at Agri-Science Technology Company in Laketown Township, near Saugatuck, Mich.
Few 911 calls start like this.
"An individual that had fallen into a molasses tank," says Doug DenBleyker, Graafschap Fire Chief. "(I) didn't know what to expect when we got the call, you're thinking 'Molasses? What's going on?'."
Emergency crews responded to Agri-Science Technology. A neighbor sent us several photos which he says show the molasses tank.
"We noticed it happened as soon as they cut the tank open, we could smell the chemicals coming out," says Harlie Cowan, a neighbor.
"There was the molasses mixture all over the ground, and we had seen that they had taken a saw and cut a hole in the side of the tank to get the individual out," says Chief DenBleyker. "The owner of the business was doing CPR at the time, we took over CPR."
However, the frantic rescue effort could not save the man.
"It was basically like a drowning, he had drown in the molasses," says Chief DenBleyker.
According to a Go Fund Me page, 23 year-old Robert Herweyer just married his wife in November and she is expecting their first born child in the next few weeks.
"It's just tragic, something like that, just in an instant it's all done," says Chief DenBleyker.
Emergency crews say it appears the victim was trying to fix a maintenance issue inside tank, where the molasses was about five feet deep. The fire chief says there were also dangerous fumes inside.
Authorities say the victim was wearing some type of mask.
"There was a respirator laying on the ground," says Chief DenBleyker.
Now, MIOSHA is investigating what went wrong. That could take several weeks or even months to complete.
