An employee of the U.S. Postal Service tragically lost his life after becoming trapped in a mail processing machine at a distribution center located in Allen Park, Michigan, as confirmed by officials.

Nicholas John Acker, aged 36, was discovered deceased within the equipment at the USPS Detroit Network Distribution Center after being ensnared for several hours on Saturday, according to reports from WDIV. Acker worked as a maintenance technician at the facility.

Firefighters were dispatched to the scene after Acker’s fiancée reported his failure to return home following his shift. She had been waiting outside the center for hours before notifying authorities of his absence.

An employee of the U.S. Postal Service died after becoming trapped in a mail processing machine at a distribution center in Allen Park, Michigan. (Spencer Jones/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Officials stated that Acker had already been deceased for approximately six to eight hours by the time emergency personnel reached the site.

“We want to know what happened and how long he was there,” the man’s fiancée, Stephanie Jaszcz, told WDIV. “That’s what we want to know. We want to know how he even ended up there and why doesn’t anybody know where he was at?”

Mail handling machines are used to sort and weigh mail and can range in sizes. The facility where the man was found dead has many large machines, according to WDIV.

The man had been dead for six to eight hours before the firefighters arrived at the facility. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Police described the man’s death as “accidental.” The circumstances surrounding how he became stuck in the machine remain unclear, and authorities continue to investigate.

“The United States Postal Service is deeply saddened by the loss of our employee at the Detroit Network Distribution Center (NDC) in Allen Park, MI,” USPS said in a statement to WDIV.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. The NDC is fully operational at this time,” the statement continued.

Police described the man’s death as “accidental.” (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Jaszcz criticized the USPS statement for failing to mention her fiancée’s name and for stating that mail operations will continue.

“‘The mail’s still moving?’ Gross,” Jaszcz said. “‘Sorry about the loss, but the mail’s still moving.’ They couldn’t even say his name or acknowledge that he was an Air Force veteran. A man gone. A veteran. A husband. A human being. And all you can think of is mail keeps moving? Inhumane. It’s gross.”