Man who died in farming accident named

Police have named a man who was crushed to death in an effluent pond yesterday.

He was 29-year-old Craig Wayne Bowater, a worker on a dairy farm on Horsham Downs Rd, north of Hamilton.

David O'Donnell, station officer at Chartwell Fire Station, said Mr Bowater had been working on a floating pontoon in the middle of an effluent pond.

The pontoon flipped on a 90 degree angle and trapped Mr Bowater between the railing of the pontoon and the railing of a walkway it was connected to.

Another worker, who had also been on the pontoon, frantically tried to free him but the structure was too heavy - it required a tractor and three fire officers to move it.

Mr Bowater was dead by the time emergency services arrived soon after 2pm.

Sergeant Mark Toomey, of Ngaruawahia police, said he had died quickly.

A Department of Labour engineer would inspect the equipment to see if it had any engineering faults and the death would be referred to the coroner, he said.

Mr Bowater lived in a cottage on the farm with his wife and young child.

- NZPA