Settlement reached in deaths of two men at a Michigan dairy farm

GRAND RAPIDS (AP) — Documents say there’s a settlement in a federal wrongful death lawsuit by families of two young people who died in 2010 after falling into a tank at a Barry County dairy farm.

The Grand Rapids Press reports an attorney for Yankee Springs Dairy Farm says in a recent filing in U.S. District Court that those involved reached a settlement and were preparing related documents.

The families sued, saying 17-year-old Francisco Martinez and 18-year-old Victor Perez were overcome by fumes emitted by decaying molasses in the tank at the farm.

Authorities say they died of asphyxiation after being trapped in the oxygen-depleted environment.

The lawsuit says Martinez and Perez complained to their supervisor about conditions inside the tank at the farm.