Tot's arm amputated after lawnmower accident

A two-year-old boy had his arm amputated after it was shredded by a lawnmower blade in a horrific accident yesterday morning.

The boy was at home with his parents in Ruakituri, north of Wairoa, when his arm became entangled in the blades.

Emergency services staff said his arm was almost cut clean off at the shoulder and it had to be amputated by emergency services. The boy was last night fighting for his life in Hawke's Bay Hospital after undergoing emergency surgery.

A Wellington communication centre spokeswoman said St John paramedics from Wairoa raced to the address down a long driveway in the Ruakituri valley, close to Urewera National Park.

Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter pilot Dean Herrick said ambulance officers had managed to stop the bleeding by the time the helicopter arrived a few minutes later.

Herrick said the boy was conscious when he was loaded on to the chopper.

He said: "He got his arm caught in the lawnmower. He lost the arm from the shoulder down. He still seemed to be in a state of shock when we got there.

"It took around 25 minutes to transport him to Hawke's Bay Hospital. He was relatively calm."

Hospital spokeswoman Anna Kirk said the boy had been operated on and remained in a critical condition.

His parents travelled to the hospital with him in the helicopter and were at the boy's side last night.

Middlemore Hospital orthopaedic surgeon Michael Flint said lawnmower injuries were "horrendous" because of the tissue damage. "The tissue gets chewed up," he said. "All the major nerves and muscles would be torn rather than cleanly cut."

There was also a major risk of infection with this type of injury, he added.