Allan MacCallum, 46, was on his croft with two of his sons when the accident happened
A father of three has died after becoming trapped in a baling machine.
Allan MacCallum, 46, was on his croft with two of his sons, Sean, 22, and Bradley, 13, when the accident happened.
He had been inspecting the new machinery on Saturday night following its delivery that morning to his property on Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides.
Last night, heartbroken Sean told how he had tried in vain to free his father.
He said: ‘I was on the phone in the caravan when I heard this shouting. I ran out and I went straight to my father. I grabbed his hand and said, ‘Dad, are you there’, but there was nothing back.’
He said he ran to try to open the back door of the baler but saw oil leaking out, which signalled a burst in the mechanism.
So he got into another tractor as a friend of his father, who was also working on the croft, came to help.
Mr MacCallum said: ‘I jumped into the tractor with a loader and pushed stuff out of the way to get hold of the door.’
Father-of-three Mr MacCallum has died after becoming trapped in a baling machine
His father’s friend had been ‘inside the baler trying to push it’.
Mr MacCallum said: ‘I tried everything I could and eventually I got the strap on the door and I lifted it right out and my father just dropped.’
In a statement, Mr MacCallum said he and Bradley – along with their other brother Darren, 15 – were ‘heartbroken’.
He said his father – who had split from their mother Lynn seven years ago – ‘adored his boys and they thought the world of him and still do, today and for ever’.
Tributes to Mr MacCallum were posted on a crowdfunding page, which had raised nearly £15,000 for funeral costs by this morning.
Mr MacCallum lived in a property in this area of Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides
A friend said: ‘The people of Tiree are absolutely devastated for the family. It’s really, really, tragic.’
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘Emergency services attended and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
‘Inquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).’
A spokesman for the HSE said: ‘HSE is aware of the incident and making initial inquiries.’
A JustGiving crowdfunding page had raised nearly £15,000 for funeral costs by this morning
John Dickson, National Farmers Union Scotland’s regional chairman for Argyll and the Islands, said: ‘Our thoughts are with the family and friends at this time.
‘Every loss of life through a tragic accident of this kind has a huge impact but in a tight-knit island community the feeling of loss goes deeper.
‘It is a sad reminder that farming and crofting is dangerous and it is important that everyone living and working in the countryside take the necessary steps to keep themselves, their family and their staff safe while working.’
Tiree resident Megan Cowling wrote on the Justgiving page she set up: ‘We have all been shocked and deeply saddened on the island by the sudden passing of Allan.
Tributes to Mr MacCallum were posted on the crowdfunding page following his death
‘He leaves behind three young boys, and together we can all help them through this difficult time.’
Norma and Murray Omand, in a Justgiving post, said: ‘Not very often you met Allan without one of his boys by his side. Big cloud over our isle.’
It is not the first time tragedy has hit the family.
Mr MacCallum’s brother, Alexander, who was known as Alasdair, died after a road accident at Benderloch, near Oban, Argyll, in 2010.