

Can of tuna via Shutterstock.com

An employee at Bumble Bee Foods in Santa Fe Springs was killed on the job in one of the worst ways that we can imagine: he was cooked inside an industrial oven at the plant.

The employee Jose Melena, 62, had been working at the plant about 15 miles southeast of Los Angeles for six years. It's not clear how it happened, but Melena's lifeless body was discovered around 7 am on Thursday inside a "steamer machine," authorities told the Whittier Daily News.

Cal-OSHA has launched an investigation into the circumstances of his death and whether any health and safety regulations were violations. But authorities are referring to it as an accident. Operations have been suspended at the plant, while the investigation takes place.

Bumble Bee Foods vice president of human resources Pat Menke expressed condolences to Melena's family in a statement provided to the Whittier Daily News: "The entire Bumble Bee Foods family is saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Melena family."

Related:

Bumble Bee Foods CEO: We Still Don't Know How An Employee Got Cooked To Death Inside An Oven

Former Bumble Bee Employee on Worker Cooked to Death in Plant Oven: Someone Made a 'bad mistake'