Man pinned under bobcat
Emergency surgery following horror accident
FIREFIGHTERS and paramedics worked for an hour to save a man trapped under a bobcat yesterday.
Paul Cantell was doing landscaping work at a property on Duke Court in Tallai when the vehicle is thought to have flipped, pinning him to the turf in the backyard just after 9am.
“I’ve got a four-metre rock retaining wall that goes four metres down … and he’s driven over it,” said Alex Lanni, who owns the property. “(I heard) just a big thump. “He had his left toe pinned in the machine … but he was lying flat on the ground.
“After about two or three minutes he started … talking and moving.”
A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said the man in his 20s was taken in a serious condition to Gold Coast University Hospital with leg, foot and chest injuries.
Mr Cantell was last night said to be in a critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery.
Kasey Miller was also home with Mr Lanni at the time of the incident and said she looked in the backyard to investigate when dogs started barking early yesterday.
Ms Miller said she heard the man punctured a lung in the incident.
“The dogs were barking, they wouldn’t stop. When I looked over the balcony I saw him,” she said. “They had to cut him open.” Duke Court resident Les Anderson said he didn’t see the crash but saw emergency services lining the street.
“Paramedics were there, the fire brigade were there, police were there … obviously to get him out,” he said.
“They had to do extra work when they got to him. They stretchered him up and they had an ambulance there.
“They had to get it (the bobcat) up to get him out.
“When he fell, he punctured a lung and that’s why they were working on him out there. The whole thing took at least an hour … half an hour I would say they were working on him.”
Police and ambulance officers were on scene until late yesterday morning.
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland officers investigated the incident and confirmed inquiries into the crash were ongoing.