THE lifeless body of 63-year-old Hatim Khan, known as “Jackson,” was discovered pinned under his overturned tractor at a pasture field in New Forest backlands, East Canje, on Tuesday.
The incident occurred some 30 miles from the New Amsterdam township; the area can only be accessed by tractors or motorbikes. Khan’s colleague, Michael Welch, said he was riding a horse in the savannah, while the elderly man was driving the tractor when he [Welch] heard an explosion around 12:30hrs.

Welch said he saw smoke emanating from the already overturned tractor and observed that Khan was already pinned under the bonnet of the vehicle, while his arms and feet were outstretched. Welch said he had to wait almost four hours before help arrived in the densely forested area.
This newspaper understands that Khan, who is a cattle farmer, left his Lot 13 Adelphi Village, East Canje home just after 05:30hrs on Tuesday to take workers to the cattle ranch and to transport schoolchildren to their various schools. He returned to the ranch around 11:00hrs and realised that the tractor driver did not show up for work. He then decided to operate the vehicle.

Following his death, an excavator was driven to the scene to assist in overturning the tractor, thereafter allowing detectives to access the body, which was subsequently placed in a wooden tray and pulled by another tractor through the backlands under police escort.
Khan was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His body is at the Arokium Funeral Home, where a post-mortem is expected to be conducted shortly. Khan leaves to mourn his wife, Radhikaran Khan and a child from another union.