What a way to go!

When I read the headline of this article, I originally thought this should be a great way to leave Mother Earth. But if you read the whole story, it's really sad. So near, but yet so far...

A MAN fell into a vat of hot melted chocolate and died overnight at a factory in New Jersey in the US, a spokesman for the local public prosecutor said.

The 29-year-old man was among four workers on a platform above the vat who were dumping in pieces of solid chocolate to be melted down, said Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

"He somehow slipped and fell into the vat," Mr Laughlin said. "Inside the vat, he was hit by a piece of equipment called the agitator that's used to stir, and that killed him."

Mr Laughlin said the vat at the Cocoa Services plant was around 2.5 metres deep.

"At this point there's no suggestion of foul play," Mr Laughlin said, adding that the man appeared to have died instantly from the blow to the head from the agitator.