A newly-employed farm worker has been killed after he was crushed beneath a tractor in Pongaroa.
Samuel Pratt, a 22-year-old from Ashhurst, Manawatu, was discovered late on Wednesday night pinned beneath a tractor on a farm on Huia Iti Rd, off Route 52 just north of Pongaroa.
He was found at around
10pm by farmer Colin Pritchard, who had gone looking for the worker after he had not turned up to sort grass seed as arranged.
It appeared he may have been trapped for some time, as he had not been seen for about four hours.
Pongaroa Fire Brigade chief John Eunson said the tractor was a "very big" John Deere.
"It was a lot bigger than the usual ones and to have that lying on you, you'd get no chance".
He said it appeared Mr Pratt had been towing a farm implement on a steep section of paddock when the machine overturned.
"It looked to be fairly steep and [the tractor has] ended up on it's side and he was pinned behind it.
"He was jammed in between the window and the seat. It would have been very short and sharp."
He said the implement was unattached from the tractor when he arrived.
Mr Eunson said the fire brigade attended the scene for four hours, having to bring in a bulldozer with a winch to right the toppled tractor.
He said he and six other volunteers were first at the scene, with some hit pretty hard by the death.
It appeared Mr Pratt had not been wearing a seatbelt, he said.
Constable Matt Brooking, of Dannevirke police, said Mr Pratt had started the job just three weeks ago, and had been delighted to have found a job.
The death comes less than two months after coroner Ian Smith said 73-year-old Masterton farmer Daniel Raoul Bensaude might have survived a tractor rolling accident had he been wearing a seatbelt.
On that occasion he said the wearing of seatbelts should be compulsory in all earthmoving machines, but stopped short of recommending it.
"I am not going to make such a recommendation because I am sure it will fall on deaf ears for many reasons," he said.
