A man in Jackson,Michael Schmidt Mississippi died Monday after hot asphalt poured on him as he was repairing a dump truck.

The 41-year-old man was working on a hydraulic line underneath the truck in Mississippi's capital when the tailgate opened and asphalt fell on him, the Jackson Police Department said in a post on Facebook Monday.

Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade told reporters at the site of the accident that authorities were notified of the incident around 10:30 a.m. Monday.

They arrived on scene to find the victim, a private contractor, "buried under hot asphalt."

"It appeared to be some type of malfunction with his dump truck," Wade said. "The vehicle that he was here to pick up asphalt with as he tried to fix the vehicle of mitigation issue with, the vehicle actually unloaded all this hot asphalt onto him."

Wade said several individuals on scene tried to help the victim as "he tried to fight to make it through those injuries, but it was just too enormous for him to survive."

'Horrific situation'

Describing the incident as a "horrific situation," Wade offered his "prayers (and) condolences," adding that his heart "goes out to his family."

"I talked to some of his family here on scene. They said he was a good man, a hardworking man, just trying to make a living," Wade said. "They were hurt. They were traumatized."

Wade said the police department had conducted a death investigation, "but it appears to be an accidental death at this particular time," adding the department is still looking into the details to determine what exactly went wrong.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.