Farmer trapped in grain auger made ‘last call’ to wife

The devastated wife of an Australian farmer has revealed he made what he thought was his last phone call to her during a horrific farm accident.

Gavin Boekel fell into a grain auger machine on the family’s farm in Coleyville, Queensland, on 14 May.

With his legs trapped by the blades of the grain machine, the father-of-five called his wife and told her it was the end.

See also: How a false leg inspired a safety campaign

“He said ‘I’m stuck, I love you – thank you for being the mother of my children’,” Rachelle Boekel told the Gatton Star.

Mr Boekel was trapped in the machine for three hours, but he was rescued by emergency services and taken to hospital.

Leg severed

His left leg was severed below the knee and his right leg was crushed. His back was broken in several places and he cracked his pelvis.

Mr Boekel underwent emergency surgery during a gruelling 19 hours of operations. He remains in serious condition in hospital.

A GoFundMe fundraising appeal has been launched online to try to raise funds for Mr Boekel and his family.

In a Facebook post his wife said: “My husband fell into a machine that has massive blades on it like a blender. He was trapped for more than three hours with the next blades about to rip through his stomach. He was fully awake and fully aware. No man should ever have to go through that.”

Mrs Boekel said her family needs immediate funds to rent a property close the hospital where her husband will require treatment for up to two years, as well as money to buy school uniforms for the children.

US farmer amputates leg

Last month, a US farmer was forced to amputate his leg with his penknife after getting trapped in a grain auger in a similarly horrific incident.

Each year, roughly 30 people suffer fatal injuries on UK farms – with hundreds more suffering serious injuries.

Agriculture has highest fatal accident rate – 18 times higher than the five-year average for all industries.