A Valley Center man died Tuesday in North County after an industrial accident.
Oceanside Police say Manuel Moreno was working at the Evergreen Nursery on the 3000 block of Oceanside Boulevard when he got his arm caught in some conveyor belt equipment connected to a mulching machine on Tuesday morning.
The accident happened as Moreno jumped from the machine to a nearby front end loader. Moreno fell and his arm got entangled in the belt and that forced his body forward, pinning his head.
He died of suffocation at the scene, according to officials with the Oceanside Police Department.
The accident occurred at about 8 a.m., according to the victim's cousin.
A relative of Moreno's said the victim was 56 years old at the time of his death. He had worked at the nursery for more than 25 years when he was killed.
"He was cautious at what he did, he took every step to do everything right, that's why it's so hard to understand why this would happen to someone like that,"said Moreno's cousin Tania Avila.
Family members are also upset because they say supervisors at Evergreen Nursery never contacted them about the accident.
State safety investigators are also looking into the cause of the accident. They said the nursery hasn't had any safety violations in the past seven or eight years.
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The owners of Evergreen declined to comment about the accident.
