In the sawmill

Crushed by wheel loader: father found dead son

Tragedy at a family business in the Mühlviertel (Upper Austria). The 30-year-old owner of the sawmill was fatally injured during repair work on a wheel loader on Tuesday. Nobody noticed the accident, it was only when his father went to check that he discovered his son, for whom there was no help.

The 30-year-old sawmill owner from Lichtenau im Mühlkreis (Rohrbach district) was busy repairing his wheel loader on Tuesday evening at around 7 p.m. and wanted to remove a defective hydraulic hose from the control block. Either due to an operating error or a technical fault, the lift arm and bucket came loose.

Five fire departments in action
The 30-year-old was trapped and crushed between the hydraulic control unit and the lift arm. There were no witnesses to the incident, but the father of the accident victim later came out of the adjoining house to investigate. When he discovered his son, he immediately alerted the emergency services.

Five fire departments arrived to rescue him, assisted of course by an emergency doctor, but at 9.10 p.m. he was only able to determine that the young businessman had died. There are no indications of any possible external cause.