US man dies after horror workplace accident buries him under hot asphalt

Darrell Sheriff died when he was buried by hot asphalt. Photo / WAPT16

A US man died in a horror workplace accident after he was buried beneath a load of hot asphalt at a site in Jackson, Mississippi.

Darrell Sheriff died when the tailgate of the dumptruck he was working on suddenly opened, instantly covering him in hot road tar.

Sheriff was reportedly working on a broken hydraulic line when the accident happened.

Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade told media that people nearby immediately tried to render aid to Sheriff but he was fatally injured.

“He tried to fight to make it through those injuries but it was just too enormous for him to survive,” Wade said.

Describing Sheriff as a “good, hardworking family man,” Wade said his family members had been left traumatised by the incident.

“It was horrifying and something you do not want to see,” he told media.

“Jackson police officers were called to this location in relation to an accident. Upon arrival, they came across an individual who had been buried under hot asphalt.

“It appeared to be some sort of malfunction of his dumptruck. The vehicle he was here to pick up asphalt with. As he tried to fix the vehicle there was an issue and the vehicle unloaded all of the hot asphalt on to him,” Wade revealed.

“My prayers, condolences and thoughts, my heart go out to the family.

“I spoke to some of them at the scene, they said he was a good man, a hard working man just trying to make a living and that is the synopsis of so many people of the city of Jackson. Let’s keep the family uplifted in prayer.”

Friends and family mourned Sheriff online, saying that “life doesn’t come with any guarantees”.

“Nothing but Love. You never know how or when, you just know one day it will happen but always pray that it won’t,” they wrote.

The accident is now under investigation.