Two metalworkers cooked to death after colleague accidentally switches on 800C furnace while they were cleaning it



An Austrian metalworker accidentally switched on an oven that two colleagues were inside cleaning - leaving them to slowly cook to death.

Detectives investigating the horrific deaths in the massive oven say the pair had tried to rip the insulation off the wall of the oven and clawed at the door in a desperate bid to get free.

The tragedy happened when the automatic door of the oven at the factory owned by the Salzburger Aluminium AG company in Lenz closed.

Horrific: An Austrian metalworker accidentally switched on an oven that two colleagues were inside cleaning - leaving them to slowly cook to death (file picture)

The giant oven which reaches a temperature of 800 degrees centigrade was then switched on.

Now detectives say the two men who had been sent inside to clean the oven had actually finished the job and left before returning a second time without informing colleagues.

They also failed to instigate any of the four security measures including putting up a sign indicating that they were inside, and also failing to secure the door so that it stayed open.

As a result the door had somehow swung shut and the colleague, believing the cleaning work had finished because he had already seen his colleagues outside and noting the door was closed, had switched the oven on.

Scene: The Salzburger Aluminium AG company in Lenz, where the tragedy took place

He is now being given psychological counselling.

Police spokeswoman Daniela Gstvttner said the two men - 56-year-old Reinhard P who had worked at the factory for several years and a 49-year-old man who had been sent there by a temporary agency - would have realised what had happened when the hot air started to flood into the chamber.

She said: 'Because of the intense heat at some point the men's clothes caught fire - and from there their bodies were burned.

'At the moment we are trying to work out how the door was closed and how it ended up being switched on. It could have been done manually or by remote control.'

Staff had noticed the two men were missing around midday and started looking for them.

An hour later it was noticed the door to the massive pre-heating furnace which eventually reaches a temperature of up to 800 degrees centigrade had been closed and somehow switched on.