Beloved Mother Dies After Getting Stuck in Bread Machine

A 44-year-old mother from North Carolina died on Tuesday after she became stuck inside an industrial food mixer at work.

Virginia López Severiano, an employee at Azteca Market in Selma, became trapped inside an industrial machine on Tuesday morning, according to WTVD. Emergency personnel who responded to the scene freed López Severiano and airlifted her to Duke University Hospital.

While doctors initially planned an operation to save López Severiano’s arm, she died from her injuries later that night, WRAL reported. López Severiano had reportedly been cleaning the machine, used to make bread, at the time of the incident.

“[Responders] basically took the machine apart in order to get the woman out,” the Selma Fire Department told WNCN, adding that the operation “took a little over an hour.”

Fire officials said half of López Severiano’s body was inside the machine, the outlet noted.

Police and fire department officials did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. Calls to Azteca Market were not returned.

“The departments showed what it means to care for your community and fellow communities, they came together as one and after a very long and exhausting extraction, we’re able to free the worker, and they were transported by helicopter to Duke University Hospital,” Selma police said in a post to social media.

López Severiano’s daughter, Miriam Amado-Lopez, confirmed her mother’s death in a post on Facebook.

“My mom is the best mother a girl could have,” she said in an update on Wednesday. “She taught me resilience, the importance of hard work, and she showed me what true love felt like. From a young age my mom did not have the easiest life. She started working at a young age to help support her family and eventually decided to travel hundreds of thousands of miles to try to give her family a better chance at a good life.”

“My mom was kind, funny, silly, hard-working, beautiful, a provider, a nurturer, and the backbone of our family,” she added. “She always gave me everything that I needed when I was sick or made me breakfast whenever she was at home in the morning. I will miss that so much…”

A GoFundMe has been set up to raise funds for the family and has raised over $2,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.

“[López Severiano] was a very loved person by the community,” a description on the page said. “Every single penny will be going directly to them.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the incident, according to WTVD.