Fatal quad bike accident sends shock waves through Central Hawke's Bay

There have been more than 60 quad bike fatalities in the past 10 years in New Zealand. Photo / File

The death of a popular community-spirited man has sent shockwaves around Central Hawke's Bay.

Emergency services were called to a farm in Mangaorapa at 2.25pm on Saturday where it is understood he died after a quad bike rolled.

A local man, who did not wish to be named said the community is "pretty shaken up".

It is believed he was in his mid-20s. The local man said, despite his age, he was an integral part of the community serving on the St John Ambulance committee, and on the Porangahau Volunteer Fire Brigade.

"It's knocked quite a few people back. We don't even know what went wrong. He was only a young guy."

Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay president Jim Galloway said it was a terrible incident and sympathised with the family.

While he doesn't know the circumstances surrounding the accident, Galloway said lots of factors could be at play.

"I do not know the circumstances, but this year with the long grass, it can hide hazards in the ground and you've just got to concentrate a lot more on where you're driving or what you're doing," he said.

"It is so easy to miss something in the ground that can cause an accident."

Despite the unfortunate event, he hoped the tragedy would serve as an important message for people.

"It is the worst kind of thing to have to learn from, but if we can learn from it and reduce accidents in the future, that would be at least something reasonable to come out of it."

WorkSafe and Victim Support have been advised.

A WorkSafe spokeswoman said they are investigating the incident.