Man Crushed to Death by 7,000 Pounds of Marble

NEW YORK – A 19-year-old man has died after about 7,000 pounds of marble stone fell on him in a freak accident.

Xavier Minchala was stacking marble slabs where he worked when several 700-pound pieces fell on him last week. The Ecuadorean-born Minchala died Saturday, a week after the accident, the El Diario La Prensa newspaper reported Tuesday.

"He was taking down the marble pieces and, according to one of his colleagues, one of the slabs fell, and then eight more until he was trapped under them," Minchala's sister, Diana Minchala, told the newspaper.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the accident, El Diario said.

A supervisor at the New Lime Stone work site, who identified himself as "Sandy," told El Diario he could not comment on the accident because he was not there when it happened.