A farmer is dead after a cattle beast turned on him while he was loading it on to a truck on a property near Tuai, 50km northwest of Wairoa, yesterday.
Wairoa police said the 57-year-old man was crushed against the side of the yards from where he was loading cattle.
The incident happened about 11.40am and police have not yet named the dead man.
Police said that when he saw what was happening, the truck driver jumped the fence and shooed the cattle from the yards.
He secured the pen and put the farmer into the recovery position before rushing to the farmhouse to call an ambulance.
St John ambulance staff made an unsuccessful attempt to revive the crushed man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Hawkes Bay Today
'It hurts the people who are already grieving': Thousands worth of rebuild material stolen from Hawke's Bay school and pre-school
Nuhaka School and a pre-school on-site have suffered a series of break-ins and thefts.