 SAUGATUCK, MI -- A worker who drowned in a molasses tank last week was under the syrup for at least four minutes before the company's owner grabbed an electric saw and cut the container, freeing the worker so he could start CPR. A co-worker told the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office they diluted the molasses with water before beginning to pump it out of an about 12-foot plastic tank behind the main building. When the liquid level fell to about two feet, the co-worker said Herweyer used straps attached to a forklift to climb down into the tank and lower a valve to continue the pumping process. "He said Robert was just there, standing by the tank wall, and when he was yelling at him, asking him what was wrong and if he was okay or not, Robert never responded back or moved his head in a yes or no motion," police wrote in the report after interviewing Deherrera, who had been working alongside Herweyer that day. Deherrera told police he briefly tried to lift the 6'3" Herweyer before running to the office, yelling for help. Herweyer, who had the syrup in his lungs, died from drowning, a Holland Hospital emergency room doctor who treated the worker, told police. He was working at Agri-Science Technology Company, located at 6135 Blue Star Highway in Laketown Township, northwest of Saugatuck, when the fatal accident happened.
– Robert Herweyer had much to look forward to. The 23-year-old had married in November, just moved into a new home with wife Joy, and was expecting his first child with her any day now. But a tragic accident cut all that short when the Michigan man died in a molasses tank at work late last month, per WOOD. Herweyer was helping to pump out a 12-foot-tall vat at Agri-Science Technologies in Saugatuck on the morning of July 26 when the molasses level got too low to reach the pump-out valve, a co-worker says. So Herweyer put on a pair of wading boots and a safety mask so he could descend into the tank via a forklift and straps and adjust the valve—but things started to go amiss once he had fixed the valve, MLive.com reports. The co-worker says Herweyer grabbed the straps to start the climb back out, but he suddenly stopped moving and wouldn't respond to his co-worker's yells. The co-worker ran to get their boss, who used an electric saw to cut into the tank and yank out Herweyer, who witnesses say had been submerged in the molasses. He's believed to have been under the syrupy liquid for at least four minutes. Although the sheriff's department hasn't yet issued an official cause of death, the ER physician who took Herweyer in said he had syrup in his lungs and had drowned. Michigan's OSHA is investigating the incident to make sure there were no workplace violations. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has raised more than $32,000 so far for Joy and their soon-to-arrive baby. (A North Carolina teen died in a wood chipper on his first day of work.)