Two women plunge when picking cherry: accident on the farmer!

Two women plunge when picking cherry: accident on the farmer!

A tragic incident occurred on July 13, 2025 in the Urfahr-Umgebung district: A 33-year-old man wanted to support two women, aged 62 and 60, in picking cherry. To do this, he put a Hoftrac under a cherry tree and raised the women in a euro grid box about two meters. Tragically, the box was secured with a lashing strap, but when the women leaned on one side, the belt and the box tilted. As a result, both women plunged to the ground. The 62-year-old suffered injuries of an indefinite degree and was brought to the University Hospital Linz, while the 60-year-old was brought to the Kepler University Hospital with mild injuries. This reports meinzirk.at .

accidents in agriculture are unfortunately not uncommon. According to Agrarheute.com , animal husbandry with over 13,000 registered accidents is the largest source of danger, with over 23 percent of all accidents in this area. Most incidents occur in dealing with big cattle, especially cattle. Gardening and landscape maintenance work also accounts for around 20 percent of accidents, while entertainment work on machines, devices and vehicles and general work each make up around 15 percent of the number of accidents.

risk factors and prevention

The year 2023 showed a certain stability in the number of accidents, which remained below 60,000 in agriculture and forestry as well as in horticulture. Nevertheless, 32,217 accidents were registered in agriculture, as reported to Agrarwelt.com . The number of fatal accidents also makes it clear that further preventive measures are urgently necessary: in the same year, 125 people died in work accidents, 73 of them alone in agriculture. The risk is particularly high for older people, including 45 of the fatally crashed

This shows that not only in everyday life, but also in agricultural activities, the highest caution is required. There is a clear need for targeted security measures and training, especially for older farmers to avoid accidents. Agraric organizations such as the SVLFG are continuously working on improving the security standards, but these efforts must be further reinforced.