The American state authorities responsible for occupational safety and health have fined a confectionery factory in Pennsylvania after two workers fell into a vat of chocolate in June 2022 and had to be taken out and the vat cleaned, reports the BBC Russian Service.

The workers who took the chocolate bath were contractors and were not working full-time at the Mars Wrigley factory in Elizabethtown. To retrieve them, they had to cut a hole in the bottom of a partially filled dispensing tank used to mix chocolate ingredients.

The rescue operation was not so simple: it required the efforts of more than two dozen rescuers, and one of the victims reportedly had to be flown to the hospital by helicopter.

The regulator's report, which issued a fine of more than $14,500 to the factory, said the workers were hired to clean the tanks and had not received proper safety training.

A spokesman for Mars Wrigley welcomed the results of the investigation. 

Mars and Wrigley, American candy companies that have each been around for more than a century, merged in 2008.

The combined company makes several popular products, including M&Ms, Snickers, Galaxy and Twix.