Italian cheese maker gets crushed by 25,000 cheese wheels, dies

Giacomo Chiapparini, a 74-year-old owner of a cheese factory from Italy has died after being crushed by thousands of cheese wheels which fell on him.

According to the sources, the horrific incident happened when the 74-year-old got buried under the cheese wheels after a shelf broke in his warehouse in the northern Lombardy region on Sunday.

The firefighter Antonio Dusi from Bergamo informed the incident created a domino effect that brought down thousands of wheels. The official further said that it took 12 hours to move the fallen discs to find the body of the victim.

Family persons who also work at the cheese factory identified him. The preliminary investigation also said that a mechanical malfunction or wear and tear of the shelves could be the reason behind the incident. However, it is yet to be identified how the first shelf got collapsed.

The warehouse was containing a total of 25,000 wheels of Grana Padano, a hard cheese that resembles Parmesan and is one of the popular cheeses in the country. Notably, the factory is located in Romano di Lombardia near Bergamo.

President of the local agricultural district, Bortolo Ghislotti has estimated the economic damage from the accident at US$7.7 million, which includes the cost of the machine used to rotate and clean the cheese wheels, which was destroyed in the collapse. Meanwhile, the official said that the family is in the race how to transfer the precious wheels of the cheese to the climate controlled neighbouring businesses before they get spoiled.