Man killed in tractor mishap

A Barrackpore man was killed while repairing his 15-year-old hydraulic brush cutter, when it fell on him, pinning him to the ground. Shaffiat Mohammed, aka “Zide,” of Khanhai Trace South, was pronounced dead on arrival at the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). Relatives said the freak accident occurred around 2.30 pm when Mohammed, a father of four, was using the “farmal” to cut the grass in his backyard and began experiencing mechanical difficulties. Mohammed, a father of four, hopped off the “farmal” to try to fix the problem. He lifted the hydraulic brush cutter, but the mechanism slipped down on top of him. Relatives said Mohammed may have been pinned for at least 15 minutes before his son, Javeed, noticed and pulled his father’s bruised body out.

Javeed told Newsday, “I raised the hydraulic brush cutter and I pulled him out. He was unconscious so I started to do CPR. I wasn’t getting any response so I put him on a bench underneath the house and continued CPR for about half an hour, but I still wasn’t getting any response.” Desperate to save him, relatives placed Mohammed in their own vehicle and met the Emergency Health Services (EHS) on St Croix Road. The EHS rushed him to SFGH, but Mohammed did not survive. Mohammed’s wife, Khatijah, is currently on vacation in the United States. Visiting the scene yesterday were acting Insp Ali, Cpl Roopnarine, PC Reid, and WPC Hosein of the Barrackpore Police Station.