Man Found in Tanker Trailer Dies at Paynesville Hospital

Jul 30

A 25-year-old man died Tuesday morning after he was found unresponsive inside a large tanker trailer in Eden Lake Township, according to the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies responded just before 9:50 a.m. to a rural property at 23588 County Road 34, where Elder Josue Salgado Gonzalez, of Eden Valley, had reportedly fallen into a 42-foot tanker trailer and was not breathing.

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The Sheriff’s Office says the trailer contained about a foot and a half of DAF water—typically used in wastewater treatment—when Gonzalez was discovered.

Authorities say Gonzalez had been cleaning the interior of the trailer with a hose shortly before the incident. Emergency responders pulled him out and began CPR. He was taken to Paynesville Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

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The circumstances surrounding the fall and Gonzalez’s cause of death remain under investigation.

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