Firefighters help man face-down in mud, crushed by 1 ton of hay

Cambridge Evening News

NEWPORT, England — A farmer was trapped face down in mud when a one-tonne hay bale fell on top of him.

The man, in his 60s, was left struggling to breathe but was able to alert emergency services to his plight using his mobile phone.

Paramedics said the farmer was thought to have slipped into unconsciousness during his ordeal at a smallholding in Short Grove, Newport, which happened at about 11:50am today.

Paul Curtis, station officer at Saffron Walden fire station, said: “Without his mobile phone in his pocket he would not have been able to call 999 to raise the alarm and let us know that he was trapped under the hay bale.

“The man had been out setting up feed for pheasants in his tractor on a smallholding. He was out working on his own when the one tonne hay bale fell off a stack and landed on top of him, trapping him face down into the mud.

“The man was trapped up to his head by the hay bale and he was struggling to breath with the weight of the bale on him.

“The 999 control operator kept the man talking on his mobile phone, reassuring him that fire crews were on their way to rescue him.”

Three fire crews, the East Anglian Air Ambulance and teams of paramedics attended the incident.

Mr Curtis added: “When crews arrived on the scene two airbags were used to lift the hay bale from the man and he was brought to safety.

“The firefighters administered oxygen therapy to the man and he was placed in the care of the ambulance service.”

The farmer was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, ambulance service spokesman Gary Sanderson said.

He said: “The man, who we believe to be in his 60s, was initially trapped underneath approximately one tonne of hay bales and was reported unconscious.

“Land and air ambulance crews worked closely together before he was transported by land ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with abdominal injuries."

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