The death of the Indian farm worker - the youngest of the three siblings – who died in Pukekohe on Saturday afternoon, has destroyed a “million dreams” of a poor family which had invested a fortune to send him to New Zealand to settle.
A member of the community speaking to The Indian Weekender on the condition of anonymity told that the deceased was the youngest of three siblings of a family with modest resources from Talwandi Salbo village in Punjab, India.
“The family had spent a fortune to fulfil his dreams of settling in New Zealand.
“This unfortunate death is going to destroy a million dreams back home,” said the community member.
The Potato Harvester Machine on the Settlement Road Farm (Picture: Jason Oxenfam- NZ Herald)
Fire and emergency services were called to a property on Settlement Road in Puni, near Pukekohe on Saturday, February 17, where a farm worker was reported to have met an accident with the potato harvesting machine.
The NZ Herald had reported that four marked police cars, several unmarked police cars, two fire trucks and one ambulance were present in that area and the police restricted the flow of traffic on the quiet rural road which is flanked by market garden fields.
The Indian Weekender have learnt about the identity of the deceased person but is choosing not to disclose as Police is still in the process of formally establishing his identity and establish contact with the next of the kin.
The Indian Consulate is providing necessary support to the family members at this unfortunate time.
According to reliable sources, The Indian Weekender had learned that the incident happened when some of the other workers on the farm were on break, and the tractor was turned off, but the machine was working.
The accident happened when the farm worker reached out to the machine to take out something and got stuck and pulled-in by the machine.
The incident has been referred to WorkSafe New Zealand.