County coroner identifies 3-year-old killed in Colerain Township farm accident | Local news

The 3-year-old boy from Christiana who died in a farm accident last week was a member of the Old Order Amish Church, according to his obituary, and leaves behind his parents and four siblings.

Benjamin Blank, 3, son of John R. and Sadie F. Stoltzfoos Blank, died June 4 on his farm in the 200 block of Bell Road, Colerain Township, after coming into contact with a ventilation unit in a barn that evening. Neighbors tried to help him when emergency personnel arrived.

Ventilation machines, usually fans, move air through barns to remove moisture and provide fresh air.

The coroner said the boy died from multiple traumatic injuries and ruled the death an accident.

The Lancaster County Coroner’s Office released the boy’s name Monday after LNP | LancasterOnline filed a freedom of information request.

Lancaster County, the state’s largest agricultural producer, has more farm-related deaths than any other county in the state. This was the first farm-related death reported by LNP | LancasterOnline this year.

Since 2000, there have been between one and seven farm deaths annually in the county, and the most common victims are children. More than half of the 24 farm deaths recorded by LNP since 2016 are children aged five or younger; five more deaths are teenagers.

In 2022, four people, including two toddlers and a teenager, died in farm accidents. In 2023, two young children and a teenager, all Amish, died.