A factory worker in central China has died after her colleague accidentally scooped her up in a digger and dumped her in a sand processor.

Horrifying footage of the incident shows the forewoman at a factory in Yidu, Hubei province standing in the digger's blind spot as the operator drove the vehicle towards a pile of sand.

She is seen falling backwards into the bucket after the vehicle collided with her. The oblivious driver then proceeded to fill it with a large pile of sand, burying the woman.

Horrifying footage of the incident shows the forewoman at a factory in Yidu, Hubei province standing in the digger's blind spot as the operator drove the vehicle towards a pile of sand

The woman is seen falling backwards into the bucket after the vehicle collided with her. The oblivious driver then proceeded to fill it with a large pile of sand, burying the woman

The local government has confirmed that the victim died of suffocation in the incident on February 24, according to Global Times citing a report by Beijing News.

After filling the bucket with sand, the operator then turned the digger to deposit the pile in a processor.

Workers were filmed scrambling to the woman's aid but they could not reach her in time.

The operator had been distracted by his phone and did not see the woman standing in front of the vehicle, according to a report by HK01.

The driver then filled the digger's bucket with sand, burying the woman in it

After filling the bucket with sand, the operator turned the digger to deposit it in a processor

A statement by the Yidu city government confirmed that the woman had died of suffocation and authorities are now investigating the case, according to the report.

In recent years, China has been ramping up efforts in reducing the number of job-related fatalities attributed to lax regulations, corruption and poor monitoring.

Deaths caused by workplace accidents in the country fell 12.1 per cent to 38,000 in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to Reuters, while fines for work safety violations rose 58 per cent in the year to around 3.3 billion yuan (£374 million).

In February, 21 people were killed and 29 others were injured after a shuttle vehicle lost control and crashed into the side of a tunnel in a lead, zinc and silver mine in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

An investigation revealed that the company had illegally bought the vehicle online, implying that it did not undergo safety checks. The mining firm had also erroneously used the vehicle underground when it was only meant for ground transport.