The community of Kissamos, in Chania, Crete, is mourning after a four-year-old boy lost his life in a devastating accident on Thursday afternoon. The child was fatally struck by his family’s farm vehicle, which unexpectedly rolled forward on a downhill slope.

The fatal accident

According to reports, the boy’s father had taken him along to a rural area to carry out farm work. While the child was playing nearby, the family’s vehicle began moving when its handbrake came loose under circumstances still under investigation. The downhill terrain caused the vehicle to roll forward, fatally hitting the boy before his father could intervene.

Desperate efforts by doctors

The father was also injured while trying to stop the vehicle in an attempt to save his son. The boy was rushed first to the local health center in Kissamos and then transferred urgently to Chania Hospital. Despite resuscitation attempts by paramedics and doctors, who intubated him and fought to stabilize his condition, the child succumbed to his severe head injuries.

The father was arrested on charges of negligent homicide but was later released on the order of a prosecutor.

The tragedy has left the local community in deep grief, as friends and neighbors rally around the family in their loss.