Man, 70s, dies following quad bike accident on west Cork farm

A pensioner has died following a quad bike accident which occurred on a farm at Coonamore near Bantry in west Cork this morning.

The man in his 70s was seriously injured shortly after 10am. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His body remains at the farm.

A postmortem examination will be carried out. The Health and Safety Authority will also investigate the death.

This is the fourth farming fatality in Cork this year. Last month John Reynolds (74) died following an accident involving a bull at a farm in Ballinhassig, Co Cork.

Mr Reynolds of the Rising Sun in Ballinhassig sustained fatal injuries after he was attacked by a Friesian bull while he was tending to cattle.

He was well respected in the local community with condolences being offered by amongst others Fine Gael senator Tim Lombard.

The alarm was raised by two men who were working with the farmer. The emergency services rushed to the scene. Mr Reynolds was pronounced dead before he could be transferred to hospital for treatment.

Meanwhile, Paddy Curtin (64) suffered fatal injuries on April 2 when he was attacked by a bull as he was feeding cattle on a property outside Charleville.

A man in his 60s also died in a farm accident in January after a heavy door on a grain trailer fell on top of him.

HSA figures revealed that, on average, a person dies in an accident on an Irish farm every three weeks.

The majority of fatal farm accidents involve incidents with livestock, accidents with machinery and falls.