51ºÚÁÏ

EARTH CITY • A worker died early Sunday after getting caught in a machine at a recycling company in Earth City, authorities say.

A co-worker heard the worker -- Mario Montoya, 43 -- calling for help at about 2:50 a.m. Sunday at Resource Management's plant at 4375 Ryder Trail North.

The co-worker found Montoya inside a baler compactor machine, according to a preliminary investigation by the 51ºÚÁÏ County medical examiner's office.

The machinery was a compactor for recycling paper.

51ºÚÁÏ County Police Sgt. James McWilliams said county detectives investigating Montoya's death determined it was an accident. Montoya apparently got fatally injured while trying to fix a jam.

"He was trying to use his legs to unjam the box compactor," McWilliams said.

Terry Ledbetter, chief investigator for the medical examiner's office, said workers managed to get Montoya out of the machine. Montoya suffered severe injuries to both legs; he was conscious and talking. Paramedics took him to DePaul Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:45 a.m. Sunday.

Montoya had lived in the 7500 block of Riddle Court in 51ºÚÁÏ County.

Resource Management in Earth City is the largest materials recovery facility in the area; its sorting line separates materials for bulk sale. A man who answered at the Earth City plant on Monday said the company had no comment.

Montoya is survived by a wife and four children. His oldest child, a 17-year-old son, works at the plant and was on duty when his father got trapped. The son and three co-workers jumped in and helped pull Montoya out, said a family friend, Jilixza Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said Monday that no one from the company has called Montoya's wife to explain what happened or to offer condolences. "No explanation. No, sorry, what happened. Nobody has called her still," Rodriguez said.

Montoya had lived in the United States for 16 years and worked at the plant for three years. He hadn't been seriously injured before, Rodriguez said.

"In the place where he was working, it was the compressor for the boxes," Rodriguez said. "It was a little bit danger but nothing else."

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Ortmann Funeral Home, 9222 Lackland Road in Overland. After a funeral service on Wednesday, Rodriguez said the family plans to send Montoya's body to Mexico for burial.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death.

William McDonald, director of OSHA's 51ºÚÁÏ area office, said an investigator was at the plant Sunday and again on Monday. He said federal law gives the agency six months to investigate and issue any citations against the company. One of the investigation's goals is to determine if any safety laws were violated.

Asked how Montoya ended up in the compactor, McDonald said: "It's all speculation at this point." He declined to say any more until the investigation is complete.

The plant in Earth City is Resource Management's only Missouri location. The company has three plants and its corporate offices in Illinois. OSHA records show that Resource Management's Chicago Ridge location reported a fatality on Nov. 23, 2009, after a worker was struck by a forklift. OSHA investigators in that region could not be reached immediately for comment about what that investigation found.