Brooklyn Bakery Worker Dies After Accidentally Getting Trapped In Freezer For Hours

An employee of a popular bakery in Brooklyn, New York, was found dead inside the establishment's walk-in freezer after he got locked in the space overnight, according to authorities.

A co-worker of 33-year-old Mahamadou Dansogo at the Beigel's bakery located along Avenue D in the East Flatbush neighborhood found the Mali native lifeless at around 8:40 a.m. Thursday, the New York Post reported, citing police.

Dansogo, who had no visible trauma to his body, according to police, was pronounced dead at the scene.

He got ensnared in the rotating blades of a machine while working inside the freezer, a law enforcement source claimed.

The machine was accidentally turned on while Dansogo was on the job, his uncle, Tidiane Wague, was cited as saying by the New York Daily News.

The freezer was said to be similar to a meat locker, according to a police source.

"I'm not sure how long you can survive in one of those," the source said.

It is believed Dansogo was in the freezer overnight.

The father of five, who lived with his family in Bedford-Stuyvesant, had been on the job for five months before his death, according to Wague.

"This guy just come (sic) to the United States. He tries to do like everybody else, to have a better life. He loves his job, he comes to work every day," Wague said.

Beigel's was closed off with police tape following the discovery of Dansogo's body.

Officials with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration reportedly arrived on the scene Thursday afternoon without commenting about the incident.

Beigel's was "devastated" by Dansogo's death, according to store manager David Greenberger.

"The family has been notified, and we have extended our deepest condolences to them... This is an ongoing situation and we are cooperating with all investigations," he said.

Grief counselors were on the site to provide "counseling and support" for Dansogo's family and Beigel's employees, Greenberger noted.

Beigel's was founded in 1934 in the owners' hometown of Krakow, Poland. It relocated to the Lower East Side in 1949 before moving to Brooklyn.

The bakery became famous for its signature black-and-white cookies and whoopie pies, with the former being labeled as "New York's signature cookie" on Beigel's website.

Beigel's has churned out more than a hundred million black-and-white cookies to date, the company said.