Man Dies After Getting Trapped Inside California Car Wash

A 56-year-old man was killed in an apparent freak accident inside a Southern California car wash after he got trapped between his vehicle and the machinery, authorities said Monday, April 18.

The fatal accident happened at the Pearl Car Wash on East Valley Parkway in Escondido at about 11:45 p.m. last Friday, NBC San Diego reported.

The unidentified man drove his Scion xB hatchback into the self-service car wash but got out of his vehicle for some unknown reason, according to reports.

The vehicle then rolled forward, pinning the man between the vehicle and "a part of the car wash machinery," police said in a statement.

It does not appear the car wash had been activated at the time of the incident, police said.

The accident triggered the sound of an alarm, which rang for as long as 30 minutes before the man was discovered by another customer who then called the police.

The responding officers pulled out the man and administered CPR before being rushed to a local hospital where doctors pronounced him dead, according to officials.

Because the driver had control of his car the entire time, the incident was deemed a "traffic collision," and not an industrial accident.

The EPD's Traffic Division was investigating and reviewing surveillance footage to determine exactly why the victim got out of his car and how he became trapped.

In another incident, a 22-year-old woman was crushed to death after "something went wrong" while operating a mixing machine at a bread factory.

Last Saturday afternoon, Bibiana Arellano Delabra was operating a large industrial mixing machine at Automatic Rolls of North Carolina (Northeast Foods) in Clayton, when "something went wrong" and crushed her.

First responders found the young woman and tried to save her, but they were unsuccessful.

"We are devastated by the accident that occurred over this weekend that resulted in the tragic loss of one of our employees," the company said in a statement.

Delabra’s parents were seeking legal counsel and declined to comment further.