Lake Illawarra police are investigating whether the age of a skid-steer loader may have contributed to the death of a 65-year-old man at Unanderra on Wednesday.
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Ambulance paramedics were called to a Poplar Avenue address just before midday after the man fell from the skid-steer loader, commonly referred to as a bobcat.
He suffered a cardiac arrest and was treated at the scene before a ambulance helicopter was called in to airlift the man to hospital.
However, paramedics were unable to revive the Unanderra man and he was transported to Wollongong Hospital by ambulance.
Lake Illawarra Police Inspector Paul Allman said an initial examination of the skid-steer loader found safety may have been an issue due to the machine’s age.
He said the man had fallen from the privately owned machine and there was no evidence he had suffered any traumatic injuries from the loader.
As word spread of the man’s death, friends and neighbours took to Facebook to express their sympathy and sadness over the incident.
‘‘Dad and him were working together to clear the gardens a bit,’’ one woman commented online.
A neighbour told the Mercury she did not know the deceased, and was shocked to see multiple emergency services vehicles, and later a helicopter, arrive on the normally quiet street.
‘‘It’s a terrible thing. Once I saw all those cars coming in, we knew it was something bad,’’ she said.
Police are now investigating.