THIS is the horrific moment a female factory worker was crushed to death by a forklift truck after it began to topple and she slipped under it while trying to bring it back down to the ground.

The victim, identified only by her surname Zhang, was with several of her colleagues in the clothing factory in city of Taizhou’s Jiaojiang district, in East China’s Zhejiang province, when the accident happened.

6 The woman jumps on the back of the forklift to pull it back down as it starts to tip Credit: AsiaWire

6 The woman slips under the machine before it comes crashing down on top of her Credit: AsiaWire

6 Zhang's co-workers desperately try to get out out but they are unable to save her Credit: AsiaWire

The gruesome accident came about because the warehouse workers were trying to move a pile of heavy iron sheets.

The workers knew the sheets would be too heavy to move with the forklift, which had a cargo-lifting limit of 3.5 tonnes.

So in order to move the 52 sheets – which weighed a combined 4 tonnes – one worker squatted down on the back of the truck in order to weigh it down.

But despite the extra weight of the man, the machine still began to tip perilously forwards.

Seeing this, Zhang, 51, charged into the mix to help, trying desperately to pull the back of the tilting forklift down with her hands.

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However, instead of bringing the machine back down, she tragically slipped and fell under it.

After the metal sheets slid off the forks, the vehicle came crashing back down – crushing the helpless worker under it.

While Zhang’s colleagues looked for ways to free her, the panicking forklift operator drove the machine forwards again and ended up rolling the mangled victim under it.

6 The forklift was trying to pick up a stack of 52 iron sheets when it began to tip over Credit: AsiaWire

6 The sheets weighed half a tonne more than the trucks's maximum lift capacity Credit: AsiaWire

6 When the iron sheets slid off the forks, the truck came crashing back down on top of the helpless victim Credit: AsiaWire

Her lifeless body was only removed from the machine after rescuers arrived.

But help arrived too late and the emergency workers could do nothing but pronounced her dead.

Authorities are now investigating the accident at the factory, which belongs to a clothing equipment manufacturer called Beijie.

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