Chennai: Farmer succumbs after being sucked into baling machine in Tiruvallur

CHENNAI: A 42-year-old farmer died after getting trapped in a baling machine near Tiruporur on Saturday night.

Sarangan, a farmer from Siruthavur village in Chengalpattu district, has recently harvested paddy from his field and bundled hay into bales. As harvesting was under way on one side of the field, a baling machine was deployed on the side to compress hay.

The machine ran into a snag and ceased functioning on Saturday. When Sarangan tried to remove the hay stuck in the machine, he had forgotten to switch it off before the repair. The machine came back to life and trapped his right hand, which led to him being pulled into the baling machine. Noticing this, another worker switched off the machine and pulled Sarangan out.

The farmer was rushed to a private hospital in Kelambakkam. After initial treatment, he was transferred to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, where he succumbed without responding to treatment.

The Tiruporur police registered a case and handed over the body to the family after post-mortem. Further investigations are under way.