A packing container loaded with clams and ice fell from an elevated forklift and struck production worker Justin Cordeiro, 20, on the head, inflicting fatal injuries, say Fall River police.

A forklift operator for Blount Seafood Corporation was removing two containers from the top of a stack in the soup production area and backing out when a container toppled off and hit Cordeiro, a resident of New Bedford, Massachusetts on 3 June.

Emergency respondents took Cordeiro to Charlton Memorial Hospital and then Rhode Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The family-owned company closed the Fall River plant temporarily and pledged to assist police and the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the investigation.

Under the Blount Fine Foods brand and private labels, the company produces refrigerated and frozen gourmet soups for food service and retail establishments and also makes clam meat products and breaded seafood.