Man dies after falling into chocolate vat

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man fell into a vat of hot melted chocolate and died on Wednesday at a factory in New Jersey, 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," 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."

Laughlin said the vat at the Cocoa Services Inc plant in Camden was around eight feet deep.

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

(Reporting by Claudia Parsons; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Eric Walsh)