Boy (14) dies in farm accident

Both the Health and Safety Authority and Gardaí have begun separate investigations into the death of a 14-year-old boy in a farming…

Gardai and the health authority are investigating after the boy was trapped by a digger.
Gardai and the health authority are investigating after the boy was trapped by a digger.

Both the Health and Safety Authority and Gardaí have begun separate investigations into the death of a 14-year-old boy in a farming accident at his home in West Cork.

Ciaran Casey from Collatrum, Church Cross near Skibbereen had been working on his own on part of the family farm when the accident happened.

It’s believed that he was killed when he became trapped between a digger and a wall while bringing in cows into a shed sometime before 6pm on Wednesday evening.

The boy was discovered by his father, Stephen who raised the alarm and paramedics attended at the scene but Ciaran was pronounced dead at the scene.

His body was removed to Cork University Hospital where a post-mortem was carried out yesterday to establish the exact cause of his death.

A second year student at Rossa College in Skibbereen, Ciaran is survived by his parents, Stephen and Norma and three siblings.

HSA inspectors visited the farm yesterday and began their investigation into the death which is the first fatal farm accident of 2013.

Meanwhile Gardaí have also begun a separate investigation with a view to preparing a file for an inquest into Ciaran’s death at the Coroner’s Court.

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Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times