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7 Workers Perish during Tank Cleaning
Seven workers have died while cleaning a tank at a brewery in Mexico City for Grupo Modelo, the parent company of Corona beer, the company has confirmed.
The company released no details in the seven deaths, which occurred Sunday morning during tank cleaning and maintenance at the company's oldest brewery.
“Modelo is deeply sorry for this incident and will support the affected families permanently,” the company said in a statement Monday (April 8).
Workers Reported Trapped
Grupo Modelo spokeswoman Jennifer Shelley said, “Early in the morning of April 7, we had an accident at Cervecería Modelo in Mexico City, which occurred in a confined area in a tank in which cleaning and upkeep works were being done. Unfortunately, the accident resulted in seven deaths.”
The Guardian Express, based in Las Vegas, quoted brewery building manager Francisco Lopez Bravo as saying that the workers had gotten locked inside the cistern as they went about cleaning the tanks.
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The company said it was "deeply sorry" about the accident, which claimed seven lives, but it offered no details. |
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Mexico City prosecutors are looking into whether the workers died from inhaling toxic fumes, a spokeswoman told the Associated Press.
There was no mention of the accident on the company's website as of Tuesday afternoon.
About the Company
Since June 2012, Belgian-based Anheuser-Busch InBev has been in the process of acquiring the half of Grupo Modelo SAB that it did not previously own.
The $20 billion deal has been held up by antitrust objections from the U.S. Justice Department. A tentative agreement to resolve those issues was announced Monday, and a final agreement is expected later this month.
Grupo Modelo makes Corona, the No. 1 imported beer in the U.S., and other popular beers.
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The Mexico City plant is the oldest of Grupo Modelo's breweries. The company, which produces Corona beer, is half-owned by Anheuser-Busch Inbev of Belgium. |
The Mexico City facility had a capacity of 11.1 million hectoliters in 2011, about 16 percent of Modelo's total, according to the company's website.
