A QUEENSLAND man used a pocket knife to dig himself to freedom and drank water from the airconditioning unit of a tractor that pinned him to the ground for more than six hours.

The grandfather-of-five from the small town of Tully said he used his hat to catch drops of water from the tractor's airconditioning unit to stay hydrated throughout the ordeal.

Barry Lynch, 54, was preparing for a day's work on an East Feluga cane farm on Tuesday morning when the drawbar of a crop sprayer collapsed on his leg, pinning him to the ground.

With no one in earshot and about nine tonnes of machinery collapsed on his leg, the veteran farmhand was able to remove his boot while deciding on his next move over a cigarette.

"I thought, 'nobody's going to miss me until maybe 7pm', so I started digging,'' Mr Lynch said.

Using a pocket knife that had belonged to his father, Mr Lynch dug through the rock-hard surface for the next six-and-a-half hours.

"I just thought, 'I have to keep going otherwise I'll lose the leg'," he said.

"It was just getting bigger and bigger and blacker and blacker until I could feel my skin cracking," Mr Lynch said.

After digging deep enough to free himself, he crawled to his ute to his mobile phone and raised the alarm.

He was flown to Cairns Hospital where surgeons worked throughout the night to try and save his leg from being amputated.

For more see the Townsville Bulletin

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Originally published as Trapped man digs out with pocket knife