2013-09-23
Daniel R. Pearce
Tillsonburg News
COURTLAND - Police have identified the man who died Saturday while operating a tobacco harvester at a farm west of here.
He is Manuel Joseph Oliveira, 54, of Bayham, Ont.
Oliveira was found in a field on Colonel Talbot Road underneath a tire of an automatic tobacco harvester, said Matt Blajer, a spokesperson with the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
“An inspector has been dispatched. The investigation is ongoing,” said Blajer. “We don’t even know how he got under the tractor.”
Oliveira was found by another person working at the farm who noticed the harvester had stopped in the middle of the field.
Norfolk OPP Const. Ed Sanchuk said police are still waiting for the results of a post-mortem but don’t consider the death to be suspicious.
“He was operating the vehicle by himself,” said Sanchuk. “We don’t know if it’s related to a medical condition.”
The death is the second major incident at a Norfolk County farm this summer. In August, a Jamaican migrant farm worker was seriously injured when a saw he was working with malfunctioned.
Daniel R. Pearce
519-426-3528 ext. 132
daniel.pearce@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/danreformer
Agriculture and horticulture workers and Harvesting labourers
Public awareness and NGOs/community groups/solidarity networks
Ontario
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