LOUDONVILLE — The Ashland County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday identified Juan Hernandez as the man who drowned in a manure holding pit near Loudonville Nov. 16.
The 22-year-old lived at the dairy farm at 2496 County Road 175, near Loudonville, where the accident occurred. His name was not immediately released as officials needed time to find and notify his family.
Hernandez had lived at the farm since July 2017 and had permanent resident status in the United States. He immigrated from Veracruz, Mexico, according to the coroner’s office.
He was operating a skid loader with a squeegee on the front, pushing cow manure from a barn to a holding pit, when he apparently lost control of the machine, according to Ashland County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Carl Richert.
The machine traveled too close to the edge of the holding tank and fell down into the pit, which contained about eight feet of manure and water product.
Other workers used a front loader to pull the skid loader from about eight feet of product, but the man was no longer inside the equipment. The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team located Hernandez’s body and pulled the body from the holding pit.
Richert said the pit was about 40 feet wide and approximately 12 feet deep. It contained about eight feet of manure and water product.
Loudonville, Perrysville and Ashland fire departments assisted at the scene, along with a representative from the Ashland County Coroner’s office.
Hernandez’s body was sent to Cuyahoga County for an autopsy.
