Terrible accident

Wife found farmer after fatal fall into silo

The emergency doctor was only able to determine the death of the 56-year-old (symbolic image).

(Bild: P. Huber)

A terrible accident on Wednesday evening in the Lower Mühlviertel: a farmer (56) fell around five meters to his death while working in a high silo. When his wife went looking for him, she found him lying motionless. It was the second fatal accident at work in this area in just a few months.

"We left the rescue to the neighboring fire departments," says Nikolaus Eder, commander of the local fire department. His comrades were too close to the farmer Roman S., who died in an accident in the small community of Klam in the district of Perg. So the Florianis from the neighboring villages rescued the 56-year-old from the silo using a drag basket stretcher. "The operation was not easy for anyone involved," says Eder afterwards.

It is not clear exactly when the 56-year-old fell around five meters into the empty silo. When his wife went to check on him shortly before 10 p.m. on Wednesday evening, the terrible accident had already happened. According to the police, the farmer had been working alone on a high silo in the evening.

Resuscitation attempts
When his wife found her husband lying motionless in the silo, she immediately called for help. "The rescue team resuscitated him, but unfortunately none of that helped," says fire department incident commander Eder. The emergency doctor could only determine that the 56-year-old had died.

Mayor Johannes Achleitner is also shocked and speaks of a "tragic" accident. The head of the village learned of the fatal accident that evening. "I heard the siren, but I didn't know what was going on. My sons are in the fire department, they told me when they got home."

Roman S. was involved in the community, for example in the parish. His relatives were looked after by the crisis intervention team on the evening of the accident.

Old farmer killed by branch
It was only in January that a farmer died in the neighboring municipality of Saxen: an 87-year-old old farmer was killed by a branch in front of his son during forestry work in the woods.

The injuries were so severe that the 87-year-old died at the scene of the accident.