A 50-YEAR-OLD farm worker died on a farm in Hooke today (ThursdaySept 4) when the heavy farm machinery he was driving plunged into a slurry pit.

The father-of-two, who has not been named yet, was transferring heavy slurry from one pit to another when his vehicle went into the pit and became almost completely submerged.

Emergency services were called just after 8am after fellow farm workers found him.

They were too distraught to talk but told police they were aware of the noise of his machine while they were in the dairy parlour and it was only when the noise stopped they came out to investigate.

At first all they saw was a broken post but when they looked over the bank they could see the JCB immersed in slurry. It took two tractors to pull it out and it is believed he was in the vehicle for more than an hour.

PC Nigel Case said the man’s fellow workers said they wished they’d gone in.

He said: “They could hear the vehicle manoeuvring while they were in the cow shed and it stopped and they came out to find him but they were powerless to do anything. They were saying they wished they’d gone in but then we would have been dealing with three tragedies instead of just one.”

Police vehicle examiner PC Jason Green said: “We have come so we can get it recovered. We want to get the boom lowered so we can take it away so we can get it back to the recovery yard. We will be looking at anything that may be wrong with the vehicle that may have contributed or caused this in any way to what’s occurred.”

Dorset Fire and Rescue area manager Craig Baker said: "We were called at 8:17 this morning to an agricultural incident on a farm in Hooke. Two technical rescue crews from Weymouth and appliances from Beaminster and Bridport are in attendance with the ambulance and the police"

The incident happened at Westcombe Farm in Hooke, near Beaminster.

The farm is owned by a man in the Home Counties who has been informed.

A spokesman from Dorset Police said: “A farming vehicle entered a slurry pit and the driver died in the incident. The death is not being treated as suspicious and the Health and Safety Executive has been informed."

 

 

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