In a bizarre agricultural tragedy, a boy working at a grain elevator full of sunflower seeds in southern Russia fell in and died, suffocated by the popular snack, local investigators said on Friday.
The 15-year-old boy, whose name was withheld, climbed the 35-meter-high storage facility to control the loading process, the Investigative Committee's Krasnodar region branch said on its website.
But the teen failed to keep his balance and fell inside, sinking to the depth of two meters, the report said.
Other workers extracted him from the elevator, but by that time the teen had choked on the seeds, investigators said.
A probe was opened, investigators said, adding that the boy was employed without a contract.
Russia is the world’s biggest producer of sunflower seeds, which are used to produce oil as well as consumed by people as a snack, especially in rural areas.
