A 17-year-old boy was last night in a critical condition in hospital after being injured in an industrial accident at a grain silo in east Cork yesterday afternoon.
The youth, who was working at the grain mills on a summer job, became trapped in a piece of machinery at the plant at Ballinacurra just outside Midleton shortly after 2pm.
Midleton Fire Brigade were called to the scene and worked for almost two hours to free the teenager's legs from the machine. They finally managed to release the youth, who is from Midleton, and he was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital, where his condition was last night said to be critical.
The Health and Safety Authority has begun an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the accident.
It is understood that the teenager's overalls became caught in machinery and he was dragged into the equipment.
A fellow worker saw what was happening and immediately hit an emergency button that halted the machinery.