An 8-year-old boy from Oamaru who suffered "horrific" injuries after falling from a tractor three weeks ago is out of intensive care, and "lucky to be alive", one of the police officers who attended the incident says.
Sergeant Tony Woodbridge, of Oamaru, said he visited the boy in Dunedin Hospital on Thursday, and although he still faced "numerous operations" in a long rehabilitation process, he had now been moved from the hospital's intensive care wing into a children's ward.
Sgt Woodbridge said the boy's progress was "a miracle".
"Having an incident like that where a boy has come off a tractor and there has been a motorised plough on behind behind the tractor that has caused horrific injuries to him - he is very, very lucky to be alive."
The injuries suffered by the boy had been so disturbing that the two police officers, including Sgt Woodbridge, and three paramedics who attended the incident on April 30 had since received mandatory counselling.
However, their thoughts remained firmly with the boy and his family, Sgt Woodbridge said.
"We all have young children, but in saying that our thoughts are with his family. Also his dad basically ran 400m to 500m with his child, trying to keep him alive until emergency services got there. It was as bad a situation as you can imagine.
"It was very traumatic for everyone involved."
Police continued to meet with the Department of Labour to investigate the accident, but at this time there was no indication of any charges being laid, Sgt Woodbridge said.
The victim's name is not being released by police because of his age.
The boy is a pupil at Oamaru North School.
Principal Peter Roundhill said the other pupils and the staff had been missing him.
Mr Roundhill and other staff members had been to see the boy, and children at the school were aware of what had happened and had been been kept up-to-date on the situation.
"They were all concerned to hear about the accident, and we've kept them informed every time there is progress in the recovery," he said.
The school had sent packs of cards it had made.
Mr Roundhill was confident there would be a lot of support for the injured youngster from fellow pupils and friends at the school, once he was finally out of hospital.
"We have got the older sister here with us at the moment. We are looking forward to his return and the superb amount of energy he has.
"We are missing him and we look forward to him coming back."
The children had dealt well with the situation and there had been no need for counselling, Mr Roundhill said.
