By KAREN SHUEY | Staff WriterA 15-year-old boy drowned in a manure pit at his family’s Leacock Township farm Saturday.
Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said Jonas King was operating a skid loader when it overturned into the pit, trapping the boy under the heavy machinery. He was belted onto the skid loader and therefore unable to escape.
Intercourse fire Chief Steve Diener said King was completely submerged in the pit on the 239 Centerville Road farm when emergency personnel arrived shortly before 11 a.m. It took rescue crews more than an hour to retrieve his body.
Diamantoni said King was pronounced dead at the scene. He died accidentally from asphyxia, the coroner said.
According to a witness at the scene, fire crews removed the skid loader with the assistance of a wrecker from Null’s Towing. The equipment was resting upside-down with only its wheels visible atop the pit, which is about four feet deep.
State police responded to the scene and volunteers from Garden Spot Fire & Rescue provided rescue assistance.
An examination of published newspaper records show that there have been six local residents who died as a result of falling and jumping into a manure pit since 1989.
• A 35-year-old Kirkwood man was killed October 2013 when he fell into a manure pit at a Colerian Township farm. David F. Stoltzfus, 35, fell into the pit.
• A Peach Bottom man and two of his sons were found May 2012 in a manure pit on a Maryland farm. According to state police in Maryland, Glenn W. Nolt, and his sons, Kelvin, 18, and Cleason, 14, died of asphyxia.
• A 4-year-old boy died in January 2011 after an accident on his family's farm in Earl Township. Josiah Martin died of accidental drowning after falling into an 8-foot-deep manure pit. The liquid in the pit was partially frozen.
• A Christiana-area man was killed along with four other people July 2007 in a farming accident after inhaling methane gas in a manure pit in Virginia. Amos J. Stoltzfus, 24, died when he jumped into the manure pit near in an attempt to save his boss and three members of his family.
Check back for updates as they become available.
