Teenage cleaner fatally sucked into meat grinder at California factory for popular frozen burrito brand

A teenager was sucked into a meat grinder and killed Sunday when the machine suddenly turned on while he was cleaning it at a California factory for a popular frozen burrito brand.

The unidentified 19-year-old victim was working at Tina’s Burritos food processing plant in Vernon, as part of the after-hours sanitation crew, when the deadly mishap occurred, according to the Vernon Police Department.

A 19-year-old sanitation worker got caught in a meat grinder when it suddenly turned on while he was cleaning it at a Tina’s Burritos food processing plant in Vernon, California. Google Maps

He was cleaning the meat grinder when it somehow activated and sucked him inside at around 9:30 p.m., VPD Sgt. Daniel Onopa told 6abc.

Other workers said they heard the teen shouting for help as they tried to turn off the machine, but couldn’t.

Authorities rushed to the scene, but found the 19-year-old dead inside the grinder.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health will investigate the worker’s horrific death and try to figure out what could’ve suddenly triggered the meat grinder.

Police, though, don’t suspect any foul play.

The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was a part of a sanitation crew working after hours at the factory. Tina's Burritos

In a similar tragedy in 2019, a factory worker in Pennsylvania died after she was either dragged or fell into a meat grinder. The victim, a 35-year-old woman, had been working on a 6-foot-high rolling ladder before she somehow wound up in the machine.

In all, it took police roughly 45 minutes to break down the machine and extract her mangled body from it.

In a separate, but equally shocking workplace accident just last week, a physical therapist was burned alive inside a hyperbaric chamber at his Arizona practice when it suddenly burst into flames.

Dr. Walter Foxcroft, 43, was inside the chamber, which is a sealed enclosure with controllable oxygen levels often used by doctors to help their patients with cognitive and physical rehabilitation, when it ignited.