MADAWASKA (AP) – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating an accident that killed a longtime electrician at Fraser Papers mill.

Marc Baron, 49, was working on a motor atop an empty mixing tank when a platform he was standing on collapsed and he fell into the tank Wednesday morning, a company official said.

Baron, who had worked for the company for 27 years, fell about 28 feet into the tank, which usually contains hydrex, a claylike material used in the paper-making process, said Richard Marston, manager of human relations at the mill. He said Baron is thought to have died instantly from blunt force.

“We are still looking into the accident,” Marston said. “We are not sure how this happened.”

Marston said it was the first fatal accident at the facility since the early 1950s.