https://metro.co.uk/2023/08/08/itali...co=mosaic_news
An elderly Italian man has been crushed to death by thousands of wheels of parmesan-style hard cheese, weighing around 40kg each.
Giacomo Chiapparini, 75, was buried under the cheeses when a 10-metre-high shelf broke in his warehouse in the Lombardy region on Sunday evening.
The ensuing domino effect brought thousands of cheese wheels tumbling down upon Mr.Chiapparini, killing him in the process.
Rescuers ‘had to move the cheese and the shelves by hand’ in a 12-hour operation, firefighter Antonio Dusi told local media.
The warehouse, in the town of Romano di Lombardia south of Bergamo, contained 25,000 wheels of Grana Padano- a type of hard cheese which resembles parmesan and is very popular in Italy.
Mr Chiapparini had been checking on the ripening wheels at the time the tragedy occurred, which were stored on metal shelves which stood over 10 metres (33ft) high.
The family-run company, which Mr Chiapparini runs alongside his two children Mary and Tiziano and their grandchildren, has been in operation since 2006 and produces an estimated 50 wheels of Grana Padano cheese per day.
Authorities investigating the accident believe that a machine which rotates the wheels of cheese – a procedure that matures the dairy product – may have moved and caused the collapse.
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