A worker who was recovered after an hours-long search under the ruins of a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania believes she would have died had she not fallen into a tank of liquid chocolate.
Cleanup and rescue crews are working through the debris of a Friday explosion at a chocolate factory in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Michael Rubinkam/The Associated Press (Photo: Michael Rubinkam/The Associated Press)
Patricia Borges, a line operator at RM Palmer, was pushed to the ground and her right arm caught fire last Friday when an explosion ripped through the business.
Borges plunged through the floor into a tank of liquid chocolate as she rushed through fire and rubble. The chocolate “extinguished the flames on her arm,” according to a GoFundMe page to assist cover her medical fees.
Borges, 50, injured her collarbone and both heels in a fall and screamed for aid for nine hours, according to the Associated Press. She was rescued after spending hours in a pool of frigid water when a search-and-rescue team heard her cries in the factory’s basement.
“When I started to burn, I thought it was the end for me,” Borges said in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press about his nightmare scenario.
The explosion killed seven individuals and injured ten more.
According to the Associated Press, a federal investigation is ongoing, and the National Transportation Safety Board has indicated that the reason was most likely a natural gas explosion.
Borges told the news source from a hospital in West Reading, Pennsylvania, that she believed her coworkers’ deaths could have been avoided because she and other plant workers reported they smelled gas 30 minutes before the explosion.
She claims that her bosses at Palmer chose not to evacuate her, and she seeks justice for her colleagues.
“Everyone at RM Palmer is devastated by the tragic events at one of our West Reading facilities,” the firm said in a statement last week. “We are focused on supporting our employees and their families.”
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