Industrial robot crushes worker to death as he checks whether it was working properly

Seoul, South Korea — An industrial robot crushed a worker to death at a vegetable packaging plant in South Korea, police said Thursday, as they investigate whether the machine was unsafe or had potential defects. According to police officials in the southern county of Goseong, the man died of head and chest injuries Tuesday after he was grabbed and pressed against a conveyor belt by the machine's robotic arms.

Police didn't release his name but said he was an employee of a company that installs industrial robots and was sent to the plant to examine whether the machine was working properly.

The machine was one of two pick-and-place robots used at the facility that packages bell peppers and other vegetables exported to other Asian countries, police said. Such machines are common in South Korea's agricultural communities.