
March 24 Palmer Co. Chocolate Factory. in West Reading, Pennsylvania, there was an explosion that killed seven people and injured ten, but one worker, Patricia Borges, was saved by falling into a vat of melted chocolate.
From the hospital where he is being treated, he gave an exclusive interview to The Associated Press and spoke about the injuries sustained during the explosion.
“When I started to burn, I thought this was the end,” said Borges, 50, who worked as a factory mechanic. Borges said she and other colleagues complained about a strange smell about 30 minutes before the explosion.
The woman who was on the stairs was knocked to the ground. She heard the screams of colleagues. There was fire everywhere, and the flames “enveloped” her face. “I told God why I had to have such a terrible death and begged him to save me because I didn’t want to die.”
He started to run. That’s when the floor caved in and he felt himself falling into a long, horizontal chocolate bin in the factory’s basement. Borges landed with her feet in liquid chocolate that reached her chest. The chocolate extinguished the flames of fire that engulfed her body, but after falling, she broke her legs. The tank began to fill with water from firefighters’ hoses stationed at the plant to fight the fire, eventually forcing Borges out of it. He sat on the edge of the tank and then jumped into the pool of water that formed in the basement.

An explosion at the factory killed seven of Borges’ employees and injured ten. Federal, state and local investigations are ongoing. The cause has not been determined, but the Federal Transportation Safety Agency described it as a natural gas explosion. RM Palmer was founded in 1948 and employs 850 people.
Source: Associated Press.
Source: Kathimerini

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