By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

RUMFORD – A NewPage Corp. employee, who was pronounced dead Monday night after falling off a tank at the paper mill, died of heart failure, investigating Detective Sgt. Daniel Garbarini said late Tuesday afternoon.

Longtime mill worker John Crawford Jr., 58, of Dixfield, died not from the fall at 5:50 p.m., but from cardiomyopathy, an existing medical condition, he added.

“According to the medical examiner, it appears that the cause of death is natural,” Garbarini said.

“The initial complaint said it appeared to be a work-related death, because it was suspected that he had fallen. But, unfortunately, his heart stopped,” he said.

According to the American Heart Association Web site, cardiomyopathy is a serious disease in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed and doesn’t work as well as it should.

“It appears that the fall came as a result of cardiomyopathy, but it is still unclear how far he fell,” Garbarini said.

Found seconds after falling by a mill employee, Crawford was taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

“He just had some bruises from the fall. There were no bone breaks and no internal damage to his body,” Garbarini said.

Mill spokesman Tony Lyons said Tuesday afternoon that Crawford was a 24-year employee who worked all over the mill as a maintenance millwright, “so, everybody knew him.”

Mill officials brought in grief counselors Monday night to help workers affected by Crawford’s death, and had counselors at the mill again Tuesday.

“When you lose someone who’s been here that long, it’s particularly hard. We really feel for the family. During the Christmas season, it’s a tough time for these things to happen,” Lyons said

“He was a local man with a local family, and everyone here feels really bad for the family. Our sympathies go out to them,” he added.

Because the incident was reported as a possible work-related death, an investigator from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration from Augusta was at the mill Tuesday. He is expected to return Wednesday and Friday.

“Up until this event, this would have been our safest year yet,” said Lyons, who could not recall when the last fatality happened at the mill.

On Monday night, Lyons said Crawford was working in the north end of the mill in the finishing section where the No. 10, No. 11 and No. 12 papermaking machines are located.