Stephan Jagusczak died attempting to save Joseph B. Buttice from suffocation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1960. When he descended through a hatch into a railroad tank car in which nitrogen had been used to preserve tomato paste that had been shipped to a food plant, Buttice, 34, factory hand, collapsed and fell prone with his face upward in several inches of paste left inside the car. A supervisor, who had been holding the top of the ladder by which Buttice had entered the car, ran to a nearby building, reported the accident to Jagusczak and others, and sent for an oxygen mask. The supervisor and Jagusczak, 35, cook’s helper, then ran to the tank car. While the supervisor was obtaining an air hose, Jagusczak climbed onto the car and started down the ladder. Calling a warning to Jagusczak, who hesitated but did not answer, the supervisor climbed onto the car and peered into the hatch. He saw Jagusczak reach the bottom of the ladder and then collapse, pitching forward on his face in the tomato paste. The supervisor connected the air hose to a high pressure outlet, thrust the end of it into the hatch, and fed fresh air into the tank. By then others had arrived with several filter type masks. Another supervisor put on a mask and started to go into the tank but was too large for the opening. Peter P. Smoley then put on the mask and started to enter the tank car. He was advised to leave immediately if he felt any effects of the gas. Smoley nodded and descended the ladder. He stepped to alongside Jagusezak and turned his head so that his face was clear of the paste. Smoley then lost consciousness and fell across Jagusczak with his face in the paste. A man from the plant safety department, wearing a mask equipped with a fresh air blower, entered the car with a rope tied around his waist and carrying one end of a second rope, both being held by men outside the car. After Smoley and then Buttice had been raised by means of the ropes, the safety man was relieved by a fireman, who aided in removing Jagusczak. Smoley and Jagusczak could not be revived. Buttice was hospitalized and recovered. 45288-4373
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