Toddler injured in farming accident

A three-year-old boy was sent to McMaster Children’s hospital after being injured in a farming accident in Wellesley Township.

A neighbour, who didn’t want to be identified, says the boy was playing in the barn when he crawled into a hay chute.  “The father was putting hay down and the young child was playing underneath.  He went in the hay chute.”

The father threw six bales of hay down the chute.

Police say more than 200 pounds of hay crushed the child, trapping him in the chute.  The boy’s father had no idea the child was there.

“They were all stacked up, one on top of the other and the child was discovered when the father came down to remove the first hay bale.” says Detective Mel Deligianis of Waterloo Regional police.

The toddler suffered serious head trauma and was transported to Grand River Hospital before being transferred to Hamilton.

A chainsaw was used to cut the boards off around the chute to get the boy out.

“There is some brain swelling,” says Deligianis. “The next 48 hours are going to be critical.”

Police say the boy remains in stable but critical condition with possible brain damage.