Pennsylvania woman killed after falling into meat grinder at work

A Pennsylvania woman died on Monday after falling into a meat grinder at a food processing company.

The woman, an employee at the Economy Locker Storage Company in northern Pennsylvania, was found dead on Monday morning by a coworker who said they responded after hearing strange noises coming from the commercial machine, authorities said Tuesday.

Witnesses said firefighters spent about 45 minutes disassembling the large machine in an effort to recover the woman’s remains. She was 35 years old.

Lycoming County coroner Charles Kiessling Jr. confirmed the woman's death in a phone interview with ABC News late Tuesday. He said the victim may have been standing on a set of wheeled stairs prior to the fatal accident.

"This is just a tragedy," Kiessling said. "She died inside the moving parts of the machine.

"We talked to the person who found her. He said he heard a noise and went to check on her and found her in the machine. He put the power down and called 911," he added.

He said there weren't any witnesses around to offer details on how she may have ended up in the machine.

"I don't know if she got caught with the moving parts and they pulled her in, or if she just slipped and fell," Kiessling said, "I don't know and there's no way of determining that."

The Economy Locker Storage Company, which specializes in the sale of meat, has been in business since the early 1900s, according to its website. The company did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- a division of the U.S. Department of Labor -- told ABC affiliate WNEP that it was investigating the woman's death.

"My heart goes out to everyone who is affected by this," the victim's neighbor told WNEP. "Everyone is shaken and thinks that this is a tragedy that something like this had to happen to such a young lady."