Bakery worker dies after getting trapped inside freezer for hours

Man, 33, found dead by co-workers after entering freezer to clean at around 3am

A man’s body was found in a walk-in freezer at a bakery in Brooklyn (Screenshot / ABC7)

The body of a man has been found in a walk-in freezer at a bakery manufacturing facility in Brooklyn, New York.

The worker was found dead by colleagues at about 8.45am on Thursday morning.

A preliminary investigation has indicated that the 33-year-old seems to have been accidentally locked inside the freezer after entering at about 3am, ABC7 reported.

The outlet noted that the bakery is famous for its black and white cookies, described as “New York’s signature cookie, with Beigel’s churning out over a hundred million of them to date,” on the company site.

Police have said that the investigation remains active.

The victim, who hasn’t been named, entered the freezer to clean it around five hours before he was found, The New York Daily News noted. Apart from the black and white cookies, the bakery is also known for its Whoopie pies.

The bakery was closed off behind police tape following the death of the worker.

The company website states that “the Beigel family opened their small bake shop in their hometown of Krakow, Poland,” in 1934.

In 1949, the business moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

In the 1950s, the company “outgrew the Lower East Side facility and moved to new quarters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,” the site states. “In the early 2000s, the Williamsburg facility became too small and Beigel’s moved to a new facility triple the size in Clinton Hill, downtown Brooklyn.”

“In 2015, we needed to expand once again. Our sprawling, spanking brand-new facility in Canarsie features the latest, cutting-edge innovations in baking,” the company site added.