Cut in the leg

Fall on scythe: farmer in Liezen involved in an accident

The farmer fell on a harmless hand scythe (symbolic image).

(Bild: Sophie Balber)

A farmer, only 48 years old, died on Sunday morning in a work accident in the municipality of Grundlsee (Liezen district). While mowing with a scythe on a steep embankment, he slipped and cut his leg. He succumbed to his injuries at the scene of the accident.

At around 8 o'clock on Sunday morning, the 48-year-old had set off with the scythe. He was mowing a meadow near a water catchment basin on his farm in Gößl. Nobody could have guessed that a harmless hand scythe could be his undoing.

He slipped on the steep slope and fell directly onto the scythe. The scythe blade probably hit him so badly that he suffered massive cuts to his thigh, as Heimo Kohlbacher from the Styrian police reported.

Bleeding could not be stopped
A neighbor witnessed the accident, immediately informed the emergency services and provided first aid. However, when the Bad Aussee Red Cross arrived at the scene of the accident, the man had already lost a considerable amount of blood, reports spokesman Stefan Loseries. "He had also sustained further injuries from the fall on the embankment," he says.

The farmer suffered massive cuts when he fell onto the scythe and died at the scene of the accident.

Heimo Kohlbacher, Pressesprecher Polizei Steiermark

Two emergency doctors - one had come with the Christophorus 99 rescue helicopter - tried to save his life, but in vain. The wound on his thigh directly on the artery was too large, and resuscitation was also unsuccessful. "He died at the scene due to his cuts," reports Kohlbacher.

The Red Cross, emergency doctors, rescue helicopter, police and the Gößl fire department were deployed. The 48-year-old's relatives are now being looked after by a crisis intervention team. "Unfortunately, accidents in agriculture happen again and again due to the hard work involved every day - even if they don't usually end fatally," says the police spokesperson.