Survivor recalls hours trapped under a tractor
Critical Care Flight Paramedic Rob administers emergency medical care to Peter.
Lying trapped and alone under his tractor Mangakino farmer Peter (Rupert) Pembroke thought ‘maybe this is it”.
“I had a 20% chance of surviving apparently. It was that close. I was lying there under the tractor thinking… ‘Maybe this is it’,” Peter says, reflecting on his accident in late 2023.
Peter was living out in the country, in rural Mangakino. On a cold and blustery day, he went to feed out silage on their remote farm.
He told his partner Judith, ‘I’ll only be an hour,’ but a short while later, the silage wagon he was towing got stuck in mud and then caught on a gate.
He turned and tried to unhook the wagon and get it loose, but as he did, the tractor slid
“How I got from looking down to upside down, I don’t know. The next part I remember is the tractor had landed on my pelvis.
“I was looking up at it, lying on the track, and the tractor is having a lie down on me.”
The tractor had thrown Peter down a short incline, fallen and landed right on top of him, crushing his pelvis.
Alone and away from any help, Peter tried to dig himself out from under the tractor, gouging his fingers into the thick, muddy clay.
But his hips had been severely crushed by the heavy tractor. There was no way Peter could get out from under that tractor alone.
As time went by, Peter grew steadily colder and lost all feeling in his legs and hands.
One hour became two, two hours became three but Peter had plenty to motivate him.
“My son was expecting twins in January. There I was, lying under this *** tractor thinking, I’ve got to stay alive to see me grandkids.”
When Peter didn’t come back for lunch, Judith became increasingly worried.
She decided to go find him - following Peter’s tractor tracks in the mud.
When she discovered Peter under the tractor, Judith was horrified. Peter had been trapped under there for hours.
An aerial view of the accident site.
She raced back up the hill to get cell phone reception and dialled 111 for help.
The rescue helicopter arrived on the scene a few minutes later.
Peter says the only reason he is telling his story right now is because without donations from the public the rescue chopper wouldn’t be able to respond so fast to other people in his situation.
“I remember thinking, Oh, well that’s good. I’ve made it. It was close. What your boys and girls have done in the rescue helicopter, I’m eternally grateful for it.”
Peter and Judith.
Critical Care Flight Paramedic Rob says they got there just in time.
“It was an absolute team effort to get Peter to where we wanted him to be.”
He says there are lots of things that can go wrong with a crush accident.
Peter had dangerously low blood pressure, oxygen levels and body temp, and was in grave danger.
It was a long recovery in hospital, but Peter worked hard in rehab and managed to walk out of hospital on his own two feet.
He later caught up with the rescue helicopter crew who saved his life that day.
Critical Care Flight Paramedic Rob administers emergency medical care to Peter.
Note from Greenlea: “Imagine... a loved one in desperate need of urgent medical help. In that critical moment, the Greenlea Rescue Helicopter is their lifeline. Donate now and save a life: https://give.rescue.org.nz/event/greenlea-rescue-helicopter/donate