A man has died in a freak accident after he became “entangled” in a tractor while mowing his lawn.
Gary Moss, 76, was discovered by his wife on Monday afternoon their home near Blacksburg, South Carolina, the Cherokee County Coroner’s Office said.
Authorities said that Moss was riding his large tractor with a Bush Hog connected – a landscaping attachment used to cut through dense grass – when it drove down an embankment and he was “ejected”.
“The tractor continued toward Moss, trapping him between it and the Bush Hog attachment,” Coroner Dennis Fowler told a press conference. “Moss’ wife found her husband entangled in the Ford 1620 tractor and called 9-1-1 for help.”
An autopsy has been set to determine Moss’ official cause of death, Mr Fowler said.
A Ford 1620 tractor can weigh up to 1066kg and the rear tires can be around four feet wide and seven feet high, according to TractorData.
There are around 85,000 injuries sustained from lawnmowers each year, according to a 2018 report from the National Library of Medicine.
While not the same model, Mr Moss was reported to be riding a Ford tractor at the time— (Wikimedia Commons)
Between 2005 and 2015, 934,394 injuries were reported and treated across the US.
However, according to the National Agriculture Safety Database, only 130 on average are recorded due to tractor accidents annually.
In July, a woman died in California after a lawnmower ran her over in an accident operated by a landscape services employee.
Christine Chavez, 27, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The man was operating a John Deere tractor with a lawnmower attachment on the back when he reportedly ran over the woman on the lawn and claimed he only saw her body when he spotted her in an area he had already passed over with his mower.
The Independent has contacted the Cherokee County Coroner’s Office for further information.
