15cm bolt found lodged in skull of orchardist

Andrew Clink was found unconscious beside a sprayer he was repairing. The hospital scan, released by Sandi Clink to the Herald, shows the location of the bolt in his head. Photo / Supplied

A frightful accident that left a popular Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchardist with a 15cm bolt lodged in his head has perplexed his grieving loved ones, doctors and investigators.

Tauranga father of two Andrew Clink, a qualified mechanic described as careful and experienced with machinery, was found in his work shed on Wednesday evening lying unconscious beside an orchard sprayer he had been repairing.

The 53-year-old's family have speculated that as he was trying to lever part of the machine off, a bolt flew from it and into his skull while he was standing over it.

His wife, Sandi Clink, told the Weekend Herald yesterday that the bolt was not discovered until it was revealed in a scan at Tauranga Hospital, where Mr Clink later died.

Mr Clink had spent the day driving between his Ohauti orchard and his father-in-law Vernon Pain's orchard in Te Puke, and had also had a dentist's appointment before he arrived back home to share lunch with his wife.

He was thought to have been repairing the clutch on the sprayer when he was struck at some point between 3pm and 5pm.

"He was going to meet a colleague at 5pm, and lately he had been really good at making sure he was on time ... but he didn't arrive at 20 past or so, so I told him to shoot down to the shed and let Andrew know that you're there," Mrs Clink said.

"Soon after that, he rang out and said you need to call 111, Andrew's had a serious accident, he's unconscious on the floor and he's bleeding from the head."

Mrs Clink, a former St John ambulance officer, instantly knew her husband, found on the ground surrounded by his tools, was in a critical condition - but assumed he had split his head open.

"A nurse did say he had not recovered in any way, which was unusual for a head injury, and she knew he was in very deep trouble.

"Then she came back after the scan and said, 'We are totally and utterly stunned ... you're not going to believe what we've just seen.'

"The head doctor told us that he'd been there for years and years, and had never seen anything like that."

Mrs Clink said her husband had been a highly professional mechanic and she saw the tragedy as a "one in a million accident".

"Dots lined up that he just didn't see."

His brother Kenneth Clink said the fact that he had been working on top-of-the-line machinery made the accident even more bizarre.

"Everything is avoidable, but it's so unusual that so much had to line up to get him in that situation. If he knew [the bolt] was a potential hazard, he wouldn't have had his head there."

Department of Labour investigators were just as baffled and a report is still being completed.

Yet Mr Clink's family agreed he had died doing something he loved.

As a boy, Kenneth Clink could recall his brother fixing motorcycle parts long into the night.

Mrs Clink, who had already lost a brother in a tractor accident 30 years ago, met her husband when she dropped her car into a garage where he was working.

He had joined her father in the kiwifruit industry after losing his job as a mechanic, and they became business partners with multiple properties across the western Bay of Plenty.

A large turnout is expected at his funeral on Monday.