Man rushed to hospital after being trapped under tractor in water northwest of Chicago
An elderly man was hospitalized Sunday evening after a tractor rolled over and left him trapped in a creek northwest of Chicago for hours.
At 2:47 p.m., the Harvard Fire Protection District was dispatched to the area of Bunker Hill and Island roads in unincorporated Harvard, Illinois, in McHenry County. They found a tractor had flipped over in a body of water and left the person driving the tractor trapped underneath.
The man's head was all that was visible above the water.
The rural crash site was remote, with no paved roadways and rough terrain. Fire crews had to haul their rescue equipment over a mile using pickup trucks and all-wheel drive utility vehicles, the fire protection district said.
Once everything was in position, the crews used chains and a heavy-duty front loader to lift the tractor just enough to free the man within 25 minutes of their arrival.
The man suffered critical injuries when the tractor rolled, and he had been exposed to the water for an extended period, the fire protection district said. It was believed he had been trapped for nearly three hours before his family found him.
Due to how long he remained underwater and given his age, a University of Wisconsin Health Med Flight helicopter airlifted him to OSF St. Anthony Medical Center.
