FARM contractor Neil Ironside has been killed in a tractor accident while working on a farm near Turriff.

Emergency services were called to Auchlinn Farm, in the Fisherie area, last Saturday morning, November 10, but the 47-year-old could not be saved.

Turriff councillor Iain Taylor, who knows the Ironside family, described the accident as particularly tragic given the death of Mr Ironside’s brother, whilst working on the same farm, in 2013.

Police are now working with the Health and Safety Executive to ascertain what happened in this second tragedy. Midweek, the Auchlinn barn was sealed off, along with a few farm vehicles in its yard.

A fatal accident inquiry held in 2016 heard that Mr Ironside’s brother Alan had died as he tried to clear a straw blockage from a combine harvester, and was pulled into the machine when his father Andrew accidentally switched it on, causing fatal neck and head injuries.

A police spokeswoman said: “There are no suspicious circumstances. Police are liaising with the Health and Safety Executive and as with all sudden deaths a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”