Italian man dies after being crushed by cheese wheels: Report

Giacomo Chiapparini died after wheels of cheese fell on him
A shelf holding thousands of wheels of cheese broke before his death
It took crews 12 hours to find Chiapparini's body

Updated: Aug 7, 2023 / 08:05 PM EDT

FILE: Wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese are pictured in the ripening department of the Casearia Castelli, member of Lactalis Group, at the Caseificio Tricolore in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy, on April 19, 2023. – The global dairy giant Lactalis, which has remained a family business since it was founded in 1933 in Laval, France, announced on April 20, 2023 that it would have sales of more than 28 billion euros by 2022, dethroning Danone as the leading French food company, and joining the world’s top 10 in the food industry. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — An Italian man has been crushed to death after thousands of wheels of cheese fell on him, authorities told Agence France-Presse.

The news agency reports that Giacomo Chiapparini, 74, died after a shelf broke in his warehouse in the Italian region of Lombardy on Sunday.

The shelf was holding thousands of wheels of cheese that weigh around 84 lbs. each. Some of the wheels of cheese reportedly fell more than 30 feet.

According to BBC, it took crews around 12 hours to find Chiapparini’s body.

The warehouse reportedly stored around 25,000 wheels of Grana Padano, which is a hard cheese that resembles parmesan.