A young woman was killed at work when she slipped into a commercial potato chipper and was trampled by the engine mount.
In the early hours of November 17, Rafaela Alves dos Santos, 24, died in a horrifying accident at her place of employment in Perdizes, southeast Brazil.
The young woman was crushed by the engine mount as she fell onto the conveyor belt carrying the potatoes to be chopped into chips and sustained serious head injuries.
Rafaela – who hailed from Santa Luzia do Itanhy in impoverished north-eastern Brazil – was whizzed at speed towards the engine mount after the machine, which had been off, switched on automatically.
A coworker who was standing next to her at the time claims that.
According to reports, other factory employees in charge of running things are apparently unable to explain why the machine turned on automatically when it did.
Bem Brasil Alimentos, the business that had employed Rafaela via a third party, expressed regret and announced that an investigation into the incident had been opened.
Rafaela had studied to be a nurse technician, but in May she and her older sister and two cousins made the decision to emigrate to Perdizes in pursuit of a better life.
Her mother, Carla Cristina Dias Alves, told local media: “She was going after her future, she was going after her dreams, to work in her field and take care of me.”
Carla added: “Rafaela was my darling. My other daughters were jealous, because we had a very extraordinary connection. She was an affectionate, self-assured girl who loved to dress up, buy shoes, clothes, perfume.
“Every morning she texted me, ‘Good morning, my love.’ Today I didn’t get her good morning.”
Carla claimed that local media, not Bem Brasil Alimentos or the business she was hired through, was how she first learned of her daughter’s passing.
