Boy, 5, dies in tractor accident on farm

Two separate investigations are under way following the death of a five-year-old boy on farmland in the midlands yesterday.

It is believed that the child was involved in an accident with a tractor at around 3pm in the townland of Kincora, near Ferbane, Co Offaly.

The boy was airlifted to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore, but could not be saved.

Gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority are conducting investigations.

The boy’s death brings to three the number of children to lose their lives in farmyard accidents in as many weeks.

Three-year-old Fionn Mulhall died from crush injuries last Friday after apparently getting trapped beside a JCB in a farmyard just outside Drimoleague in Co Cork.

Paramedics rushed the boy to Bantry General Hospital but, despite desperate efforts to stabilise his condition, he was pronounced dead.

Last month, David Roche, aged two, drowned in a container of water on the family farm in Limerick.

It is believed there was only about a foot of water in the container which the child fell into. He was found by a frantic relative just seconds later and rushed to University Hospital Limerick, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Last May, 18-month-old Fionn Cashman died in an accident on a farmyard outside Killeagh, in East Cork.

Fionn was struck by a reversing tractor in the farmyard.

He died before he could be transferred to Cork University Hospital.