While baling

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Hay bales have been seen more and more often for years: A serious accident occurred on Saturday in Carinthia while working with a baler.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

An unusual accident caused a serious injury in Glanegg in Carinthia on Saturday: a 77-year-old man is believed to have been caught in a baler - and was thrown back onto the field.

On Saturday afternoon, a man from Klagenfurt (26) checked the baler on the farm of friends in Glanegg in the Feldkirchen district, opened the hydraulic ejection flap to see the inside of the baler. He then went to the tractor and closed the ejection flap from the driver's cab - but was able to see the rear area via a video camera.

Sudden jolt
He drove onto the meadow with the tractor and baler to press bales from the haymow. Suddenly, the 26-year-old noticed a jerk. However, as this was only felt once, he did not attach any great importance to it and continued his work.

But at the end of the meadow, he saw shoes sticking out of a pile of hay! Under the hay lay a 77-year-old man who lives on the farm.

The man from Klagenfurt immediately alerted the rescuers and provided first aid. The 77-year-old man had suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to Klagenfurt Hospital by the RK 1 team after receiving first aid.

There was only one moment in which the accident could have happened
According to the current state of the investigation, the 77-year-old man on the farm may have approached the open baler from behind just as the driver was walking from the baler to the tractor. When the driver closed the hydraulic ejection flap, the man was probably initially trapped in the baler and was apparently pushed out of the baler again in the meadow. He suffered serious injuries in the process.

In the Mur Valley, a 32-year-old man was caught in a straw baler in July this year - he succumbed to his serious injuries at the scene of the accident.