Larnaca farmer trampled to death by angry cattle

A farmer’s cause of death in rural Larnaca has been updated from medical condition to an attack, after a post mortem found that cattle knocked him down and hit him in the chest.

Local media on Thursday said a 62-year-old man went to a farm in Aradippou, Larnaca district, to carry out tasks with his brother, who later found his sibling on the ground inside a fenced barnyard where cattle were kept.

Police and a forensic examiner who rushed to the area in the late morning around 11:40am found the man dead and cordoned off the area, with the expert initially ruling out foul play and media reports speculating a medical condition was the cause of death.

But reports later said state pathologist Nicholas Charalambous, who conducted a post mortem on Friday, found that the farmer’s death was caused by chest compression injuries attributed to cattle that knocked him down and hit him in the chest.

Details about the circumstances of the fatal incident were not immediately known.

Media reports suggested an angry cow had attacked the victim but the report could not be verified. It was also not clear if the attack involved a single or multiple animals.