Cane harvester was crushed to death on private farm – GuySuCo

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has refuted claims that 62-year-old Deochand Lallchand, a cane harvester of Patentia Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara (WBD), who lost his life on Wednesday morning, died at the Corporation’s Uitvlugt Estate backdam.
Lallchand was crushed to death by an excavator.
In a statement on Friday, GuySuCo said that the incident occurred on a private cane farm owned and managed by a private cane farmer, who has a cane farming operation at Zeeburg backdam.

“Private cane farmers cultivate more than 40 per cent of the cane supplied the Uitvlugt Estate factory,” GuySuCo said, adding that while the Corporation continues to share its best practices on Occupational, Health and Safety standards with the private cane farmers, the farmers were responsible for the daily management of their operations.
It was reported that around 10:30h on Wednesday, Lallchand d was in the backdam retrieving cane while the excavator was being operated a short distance away.
Suddenly, the excavator started to reverse at a slow rate of speed, and the tracks then collided with the cane harvester’s feet, causing him to fall to the ground.
The excavator then rolled over his body, crushing him in the process.
The man was picked up and escorted by the Police to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The excavator operator, a 44-year-old man, was arrested and placed in custody.