Man dies trapped in irrigation pump

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A 29-year-old man died after becoming trapped in an effluent irrigation machine on a Waikato dairy farm yesterday afternoon.

The man was working on the Horsham Downs Rd farm, 13km north of Hamilton, when he got caught between two parts of an effluent irrigation pump around 2pm.

Emergency services received a 111 call from one of the man's co-workers, but by that time he was already dead. It is understood the man lived on the farm and had a wife and young child.

Chartwell Fire Station responded to the call and helped recover the body from the machinery, station officer David O'Donnell said.

"We arrived with the ambulance and got out the paddles, but by the time we got there it was too late and he had already been dead for quite some time. So we just helped remove the man from between the parts of the irrigation machine."

The man became trapped between the platform and the gantry handrail of the effluent pump in the middle of a pond on the farm, Mr O'Donnell said.

"What happened is that there's a handle on the gantry that goes out to it, that's about a metre high. But the gantry somehow flipped up 90 degrees and toppled over and pinned the gentleman on the handrail."

He said the man was semi-crushed and caught around his shoulder and chest, which stopped him breathing.

Department of Labour spokesman Eric Janse Van Rensburg said the accident was under investigation, but could not comment further.