Young boy dies in Kilcolgan farm tragedy
A seven-and-half-year-old boy was tragically killed in a farm accident in Kilcolgan this morning.
The tragedy occurred at around 11am when second class pupil Mark Fordham fell into a piece of farm machinery which sorts potato sizes on the family farm at Keamsalla.
He was rushed by ambulance to University Hospital Galway, but is understood to have died en route.
Mark was the only child of a well-known local farming family and Fordham Potatoes.
A local told ctrib2019.wpengine.com: "Words cannot describe the feeling locally. It's a shock, it's an absolute tragedy, and everyone is distraught. For this to happen so close to Christmas too, when the lad would have been looking forward to opening his presents. It's a terrible tragedy."
Prayers were said for Mark - a pupil at Kiltiernan National School - at Mass in Labane church tonight.
Separate investigations have been launched by Gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority - as is normal procedure for such tragedies