Donegal farmer feared crows would pluck out his eyeballs after quad crash

Sheep farmer rescued after neighbours mounted search

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A sheep farmer on his quad bike

Photo by BBC

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A Donegal farmer feared crows would pluck his eyes out as he lay trapped under a quad bike after a crash when checking his sheep on remote farmland.

Charlie Boyle has also revealed how his failure to turn up on time for his job as a part-time bus driver saved his life.

The 64-year-old became trapped under a quad bike in one of the most remote parts of the country after an early morning trek to check his sheep.

His co-workers at Glenveagh National Park became concerned when he failed to report for work – and saved his life as they found him on a remote mountainside, trapped and unable to move.
Boyle told the Irish Independent: “I was out checking on the sheep from dawn on the quad bike and it just turned over and I was trapped underneath it.

“I couldn’t move an inch and I just thought, ‘I’m going to die up here.’ I’d left my phone in the house too. All I could hear were crows and I thought, ‘I’ll end up being fodder for them.’

“I’ve never been late for work at Glenveagh and I hoped that someone there might think that it was odd. Thankfully, they did.”

Boyle’s boss and neighbour Tres Alcorn asked friends to call to his employee’s home and a search party was quickly organised. The report adds that after he was found, he was taken to Letterkenny Hospital, where he was treated for severely torn ligaments to his ankle.

Now resting at home, Boyle added: “Never being late for work saved my life.”
 

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