Mexico: Government investigating accident that killed seven workers at Grupo Modelo brewery

Grupo Modelo SAB, Mexico’s largest brewer, said the government is investigating the cause of an accident at its Mexico City plant that killed seven workers, Bloomberg reported on April, 8.

The deaths occurred on April, 7 in “a confined area of a tank in which cleaning and maintenance work was being done,” Jennifer Shelley, a Modelo spokeswoman, said in a statement. In a telephone interview on April, 8, she declined to elaborate, saying Mexican authorities were leading the inquiry.

Officials from the Labor Ministry, federal district attorney’s office and the federal civil protection agency are investigating the accident along with representatives from Mexico City, Shelley said. The city’s attorney general’s office is part of the probe, according to the agency’s press office.

Four of the dead were maintenance contractors and the other three were Modelo employees who probably went into the tank in a rescue attempt, the Mexican newspaper Universal reported. The newspaper Milenio reported that the deaths were due to unspecified toxins.

The Modelo brewery, its employees and the surrounding neighborhood weren’t at any risk, and production isn’t expected to be affected, Shelley said.

Modelo is the maker of brands including Corona beer and has agreed to be acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev NV.

10 April, 2013