Woman 'boiled alive' after falling into caramel tank at factory

Investigators looking into whether high temperatures caused 36-year-old to faint

The factory in Stary Oskol where the death is said to have happened (Google Street View)

A Russian woman was reportedly boiled alive in caramel when it gushed into a tank she was cleaning.

Natalia Nemets, 36, was inside the mixer at the sweet factory in Stary Oskol, a town in Russia's western Belgorod Oblast region, when the liquid started gushing in.

Co-workers were reportedly unable to help the mother-of-one after she fell into the container.

"She did not cry, no other noise was heard. The caramel was removed from the giant bowl and only then was her body was taken out," one told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

Molten caramel can reach temperatures well above the boiling point of water, depending on its intended final form.

Two potential explanations for Ms Nemets' fall are being investigated by a labour commission, Mail Online reported.

One is that she stumbled, and the other is that the high temperature in the room caused her to faint.