Southern Illinois man, 90, killed in tractor accident, authorities say
A 90-year-old man was killed when he was thrown from a tractor and pinned under one of its wheels Wednesday, a Fayette County coroner said.
Authorities are calling the death an accident, Salem radio station WJBD reported.
Patoka Fire Chief Blake Hyde told the radio station that the person who discovered Billy Edwards beneath the tractor believes he was already deceased. Firefighters were able to remove the body.
Edwards was pronounced dead at the scene, which was on his property off East 100th Avenue a mile south of the Boat Dock Road west of Patoka, according to WJBD.
The accident was reported at about 3:54 p.m. Wednesday. Patoka is located along Illinois 51 east of Carlyle Lake.
Hyde said the tractor had just been purchased a few days earlier.
