A 10-year-old girl lost her right foot in a horrific farm accident in Highland Perthshire on Thursday.
The girl who was named locally as Charlotte Holmes had been walking alongside a mini-tractor pulling a lawn mower trailer when she slipped under the mower, cutting off her foot.
The accident happened at Mains of Murthly Farm, near Aberfeldy, at around 11am. It is understood her father, who works at the farm and is from the Perth area, was driving the tractor.
The police and a doctor were called to the scene. The doctor administered first aid while waiting on an air ambulance from Glasgow. The girl, accompanied by her father, was then flown to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for further assessment and treatment.
Her condition was described as serious but not life-threatening.
John McDiarmid, owner of Mains of Murthly Farm, said he had gone to Ninewells.
“The father is an employee of mine and is from the Perth area I know them well,” he said.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said, “We can confirm that we are carrying out investigations into this accident. We had inspectors at the site today but once it becomes an investigation we can’t comment further.”
A visitor to one of the stone-built holiday cottages at Mains of Murthly, who wished to remain anonymous, described what had happened as “shocking”.
“This is a terrible thing to happen, especially to a young girl on holiday,” he said. “I’d heard she had been taken away to hospital but didn’t know the extent of the injury.”
Mains of Murthly is around two miles from Aberfeldy, close to the distillery.