Tragedy in the Cilento fields: a 79-year-old man dies after being hit by a tractor, the third victim in Campania in a month.

The silence that reigns among the Cilento hills has been shattered by another tragedy, yet another in the agricultural fields of Campania. A 79-year-old man was crushed to death by the tractor he was using on a plot of land between Ottati and Castelcivita, in the province of Salerno. The tractor overturned, possibly due to a failure or an incorrect maneuver, but the Carabinieri will determine the cause. All rescue efforts were futile: by the time the emergency services and the air ambulance arrived, there was nothing more that could be done for the elderly farmer.

This death is not an isolated case. It is the third in just over a month in Campania. On July 10th in Teano, in Caserta, and on June 12th in Cautano, in the Benevento province, two more farmers—aged 67 and 69, respectively—died in the same way: crushed by an overturned tractor. Three different stories, one tragic event. And the state continues to stand still.

Federacma, the Confcommercio federation representing the agricultural machinery sector, has denounced the gravity of this emergency. President Andrea Borio is clear: Three deaths in one month, consistently with the same pattern. It's unacceptable that the state continues to ignore the urgent need for mandatory inspections of agricultural vehicles.
According to INAIL data, over one hundred people die in Italy every year in accidents involving agricultural vehicles, with rollovers being the most common cause. Yet, the law requiring mandatory inspections for these vehicles has been stalled since 2015, never implemented due to the lack of an operational decree. A regulatory loophole that costs lives.

Many of the tractors on the road are old, never inspected, and lack basic safety features, such as roll bars and seat belts. Federacma has been raising the alarm for years, proposing a network of accredited workshops for rapid and comprehensive inspections, but no concrete response has come from Rome. “Security can no longer wait – says Borio – We need controls, prevention, and accountability. Every life saved counts. And that of a farmer is no less valuable than any other."