Miracle escape from tractor plunge
Published: July 9, 2007
A 20-YEAR-OLD man had a miracle escape after tumbling 100m down a steep embankment inside a tractor at Oakbank this morning.
The man and a 55-year-old colleague were pulling an olive harvester behind the tractor this morning when the tractor rolled.
The tractor and harvester slide and tumbled 100m down an embankment at the Oakbank olive farm.
The tractor operator, from Goolwa, was trapped inside the cabin for nearly half an hour. He was airlifted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a stable condition.
The contractor was taken by ambulance to the RAH in a stable condition. He had tried to climb over the harvester as the tractor lost traction to free the 20-year-old from the cabin but was thrown through a barbed wire fence and injured his back.
The tractor and harvester are a twisted, mangled wreck at the bottom of the embankment.
The first firefighter on the scene, Mick Brockhoff from Balhannah CFS, said both men were lucky to escape.
“This accident could certainly have been far, far worse,” he said.
“The roll-over was probably due to heavy rains in the district. It was just fortunate both were conscious when we arrived and we were able to extricate the younger man.”
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