Worker dies in New York bakery freezer, accidentally trapped for 5 hours

A Brooklyn bakery worker, accidentally trapped inside a walk-in freezer, was found dead by colleagues arriving for work at the renowned Beigel’s headquarters Thursday morning, police in New York said.

Co-workers found the lifeless 33-year-old recently hired employee inside the acclaimed bakery on Avenue D near E. 56th St. in East Flatbush about 8 a.m., police said. The victim, whose name was not immediately released, apparently became stuck after going inside to clean out the freezer about five hours earlier, cops said.

A colleague said the dead man was an immigrant from Africa with just three months on the job. Investigators from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration arrived on the scene Thursday afternoon without commenting on the death.

The popular local business, founded in the owners’ hometown of Krakow, Poland, in 1934, became famous for its signature black-and-white cookies and whoopie pies. Beigel’s relocated to the Lower East Side in 1949, eventually moving to Brooklyn as the business with its proudly claimed “old-world sensibilities” continued to flourish.

The company website boasts of the black-and-white treat as “New York’s signature cookie, with Beigel’s churning out over a hundred million of them to date.”

The bakery, located off a parking lot behind a gate, was closed off with police tape. There was no immediate comment from the business owners about the tragedy.

“He was doing his work and the accident happened,” said a man selling food from a van outside the store. “Life is short, right?”