Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Renton Woman Suffocated in Industrial Accident

The King County Medical Examiner says Sharon Silva was trapped by debris at Smurfit-Stone Recycling.

The 25-year-old Renton woman at Smurfit-Stone Recycling was suffocated and trapped by plastic debris in a machine, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday.

Sharon Silva's death was classified as accidental, the office said.

Renton Police and Renton Fire and Emergency Services responded to the facility, located in the 700 block of Southwest 34th Street, off of Lind Avenue Southwest, shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday. They found Silva trapped under debris.

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The first responders shut off the machine and the power, and extracted Silva from the equipment. She died at the scene.

A Washington State Labor and Industries investigation into the death is expected to take up to six months.

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