Italian Cheesemaker Dies After Being Crushed By 25,000 Cheese Wheels

A 74-year-old man from Italy has died after being crushed when thousands of his cheese wheels fell on him.

Giacomo Chiapparini, the owner of a cheese factory was buried under the cheeses when a shelf broke in his warehouse in the northern Lombardy region on Sunday, creating a domino effect which brought down thousands of wheels, firefighter Antonio Dusi from Bergamo told AFP.

Officials said they had to move the cheeses and the shelves by hand, adding that it took about 12 hours to finally find Mr Chiapparini's body.

He was identified by his family, who live and work in the cheese factory, CNN reported. His funeral will be held on Thursday.

The warehouse, located in the small town of Romano di Lombardia near Bergamo, contained a total of 25,000 wheels of Grana Padano, a hard cheese which resembles Parmesan and is very popular in Italy.

Mr Chiapparini had been checking on the ripening wheels, which were stored on metal shelves, the highest of which stood at 10 metres (33 feet).

According to reports, the plant cranks out more than 15,000 wheels a year, or roughly 50 Grana Padano wheels per day, reported Al Jazeera.

Although a mechanical malfunction or wear and tear on the materials are likely to be the reason behind the accident, it is unclear how the first metal shelf collapsed.