
 
 
 
 LAKETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Allegan County authorities say a medical episode or fumes may have contributed to the death of an Alto man who drowned in a vat of molasses last week. 
 
 Robert Herweyer, 23, was just days away from welcoming his first child when he died the morning of July 26. 
 
 He was working at Agri-Science Technology Company, located at 6135 Blue Star Highway in Laketown Township, northwest of Saugatuck, when the fatal accident happened. A co-worker told the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office they diluted the molasses with water before beginning to pump it out of an about 12-foot plastic tank behind the main building. 
 
 When the liquid level fell to about two feet, the co-worker said Herweyer used straps attached to a forklift to climb down into the tank and lower a valve to continue the pumping process. However, the co-worker said after Herweyer grabbed the straps to climb back out, he didn’t move. He told authorities Herweyer didn’t respond when he asked him if he was OK. 
 
 “As a result of climbing down into the tank, then something happened which caused him to either lose consciousness or fall or something that resulted in him then being down in the actual molasses himself,” Allegan County Undersheriff Frank Baker said. 
 
 The co-worker ran to the company’s office for help. 
 
 “When we got there, we had already cut him out of the tank,” Graafschap Fire Chief Doug DenBleyker, who responded to the call, told 24 Hour News 8 Wednesday. “They had taken a saw and cut the plastic tank and made a door in it to get him out.” 
 
 Police reports say witnesses saw Herweyer lying down at the bottom of the tank under the molasses with his face safety mask barely showing above the liquid. The company owner told authorities Herweyer was under the molasses mix for four to five minutes before co-workers removed his safety mask and started CPR. Firefighters took over CPR when they arrived. 
 
 Herweyer was taken to Holland Community Hospital, where he died. 
 
 While the sheriff’s office says the final cause of death has not been determined, initial police reports indicate Herweyer drowned. There was no evidence of foul play. 
 
 Herweyer’s wife told the sheriff’s office he had not been drinking and did not have any medical issues. 
 
 Herweyer was expecting his first child within the next few weeks, according to a GoFundMe page set up to cover his funeral expenses. The couple recently moved into a home after getting married in November, the page stated. 
 
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 ||||| SAUGATUCK, MI -- A worker who drowned in a molasses tank last week was under the syrup for at least four minutes before the company's owner grabbed an electric saw and cut the container, freeing the worker so he could start CPR. 
 
 The circumstances surrounding Robert Herweyer's July 26 workplace death are detailed in a report released Tuesday, Aug. 2 by the Allegan County Sheriff's Department. 
 
 Herweyer was working with a co-worker, cleaning a 12-foot-tall hard plastic tank, when the molasses level became too low to pump out of the container. 
 
 Herweyer then made the decision to climb into the tank to adjust the valve, Agri-Technology owner David Alexander told police. 
 
 'So much to live for:' Soon-to-be father, 23, dies in workplace accident 
 
 Herweyer donned a pair of waders and covered his face with a safety mask, making sure it was "nice and tight" before climbing into the tank, his co-worker and friend Kevin Deherrera told police, according to the report. Herweyer used a forklift and straps to lower himself into the tank. 
 
 After adjusting the valve so it could continue pumping the liquid, Herweyer started to climb out of the tank, but then stopped moving. 
 
 "He said Robert was just there, standing by the tank wall, and when he was yelling at him, asking him what was wrong and if he was okay or not, Robert never responded back or moved his head in a yes or no motion," police wrote in the report after interviewing Deherrera, who had been working alongside Herweyer that day. 
 
 Deherrera told police he briefly tried to lift the 6'3" Herweyer before running to the office, yelling for help. 
 
 Alexander used an electric saw to cut Herweyer out of the tank, and he and other workers immediately began resuscitation efforts until a medical help arrived. Alexander estimated Herweyer was "under the liquid for approximately four to five minutes before they were able to start CPR," according to the police report. 
 
 Herweyer, who had the syrup in his lungs, died from drowning, a Holland Hospital emergency room doctor who treated the worker, told police. 
 
 His death is the 13th workplace fatality in Michigan in 2016. 
 
 The 23-year-old died a week before his bride, Joy, was expected to have the couple's first baby. 
 
 Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting an investigation into the death. Part of MIOSHA's findings will be whether there will be any fines and penalties assessed against Herweyer's employer, Agri-Technology Company. The investigation could take months to complete. 
 
 The Saugatuck company, at 6135 Blue Star Highway, has a workforce of less than 10, and supplies farms with products to grow crops, according to its LinkedIn page. 
 
 Last year, a Barry County farm was ordered to pay $1.7 million to the family of one of two teen workers who died in 2010 after they were trapped in an oxygen-depleted molasses tank. The family brought the lawsuit, claiming the farmer had ordered the teens to clean the tank without taking proper precautions. The family of the other teen settled with the farm. 
 
 Jury awards family $1.7M in teen farm worker's death
– Robert Herweyer had much to look forward to. The 23-year-old had married in November, just moved into a new home with wife Joy, and was expecting his first child with her any day now. But a tragic accident cut all that short when the Michigan man died in a molasses tank at work late last month, per WOOD. Herweyer was helping to pump out a 12-foot-tall vat at Agri-Science Technologies in Saugatuck on the morning of July 26 when the molasses level got too low to reach the pump-out valve, a co-worker says. So Herweyer put on a pair of wading boots and a safety mask so he could descend into the tank via a forklift and straps and adjust the valve—but things started to go amiss once he had fixed the valve, MLive.com reports. The co-worker says Herweyer grabbed the straps to start the climb back out, but he suddenly stopped moving and wouldn't respond to his co-worker's yells. The co-worker ran to get their boss, who used an electric saw to cut into the tank and yank out Herweyer, who witnesses say had been submerged in the molasses. He's believed to have been under the syrupy liquid for at least four minutes. Although the sheriff's department hasn't yet issued an official cause of death, the ER physician who took Herweyer in said he had syrup in his lungs and had drowned. Michigan's OSHA is investigating the incident to make sure there were no workplace violations. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has raised more than $32,000 so far for Joy and their soon-to-arrive baby. (A North Carolina teen died in a wood chipper on his first day of work.)