Two teenage lovebirds Alexandra Porras and Gabriel Zapata both 18 have tragically died after they were electrocuted while working in a McDonald’s kitchen.
Alexandra Porras Inga and Gabriel Campos Zapata, were killed on Sunday while working a night shift in the fast food branch in the district of Pueblo Libre in Lima, Peru.
The pair, who were both 18 and reportedly a couple, had recently finished high school and had been working night shifts at the restaurant for six months.
According to police, the girl suffered an electric shock when manipulating the drinks machine and Zapata died after reportedly trying to come to her aid.
Police report that they are investigating the case.
McDonald’s Peru said it regretted the incident and announced two days of mourning, “so all our restaurants will remain closed in the whole country without affecting the conditions of our workers,” the company said in a press statement reported by local media.
Prosecutors have ordered a criminal investigation, saying: “The police will collect statement from the owners and the managers of the restaurant and the statement of the workers, as well as doing an inspection of the electrical facilities, the security systems, the prevention of accidents at work and the conditions the victims were working under at the time of the incident.”
Investigators will also work to find out why rescuers did not have immediate access to the victims.
Rocio Zapata, the mother of the boy, said to local media that “we want them to investigate how things happened” and added, “we were not given a specific version, only that it was an electrical discharge”.
Arcos Dorados, the company which owns the McDonald’s franchise in Peru, said in a press statement: “We are working to find out the details of what happened and will give everything needed to the investigation”.
Ricardo Elias, the legal representative of McDonald’s, said to local media that “police have done all due diligence. We as a company have done it right by giving all the information and access to the restaurant requested by them”.
Elizabeth Carmona, the lawyer of the family of Alexandra, claimed that there is evidence showing that there were wires that could put the workers’ lives in danger in the restaurant.
She said that they will sue the local government as according to her, there was no proper supervision in the restaurant.
