KEY POINTS:
Police hope to recover the body of a man killed when a tree fell on his digger yesterday.
The man was working at Whakamarama, 22km southwest of Tauranga when police believe he got too close to trees and one toppled on top of the digger, killing him.
The man's body lay trapped under the tree as police said it was too dangerous to remove it in case more trees came down.
Sergeant Wayne Hunter from the Tauranga police said police, Department of Labour safety officials and contractors assessed the site soon after first light today to work out a plan to recover the man's body.
"We are looking at what we need to do to make the site safe. We will probably have to fell the other trees before we can get near the digger.
"There is a tree over the digger and there is all the other trees around it, so we can't go into the site."
The man, whose name has yet to be released, failed to arrive home last night and a family search found his body.
"The priority is to make the scene safe and get the body out."
Mr Hunter said it was dark when police arrived at the scene and it was impossible to assess the stability of the trees near the fallen tree.
- NZPA
