A heartbroken family have spoken out about their devastating loss after their nine-year-old son died having thrown himself from a truck.
Tomos Rhys Bunford died on 6 September 2021 after he threw himself from his dad's truck which was towing a heavy water tank and was heading towards a cliff edge.
The truck, a Mitsubishi Warrior, was on its way to feed calves on Blaenllechau Farm in Ferndale when it began to speed towards a steep hill.
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It has since transpired that Tomos' dad, Rhys Bunford, told the family to throw themselves from the truck as he was 'afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop it from falling over the edge.'
"It all happened so quickly"
Appearing in Pontypridd Coroners’ Court on 9 April, Rhys said it was a 'split second' decision.
He said: "I didn’t brake because it would have been like braking on ice. You let the wheels come back to normal instead of reversing or braking because then you can completely lose control.
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“It seemed to be slowing and I could feel the wheels working, but then in a second it just started to go again. As we didn’t slow down I thought we were going straight to the boundary fence and then off. I thought we were heading to that sheer drop over the embankment and down into the other bit of the valley. I decided it was safer for us to exit the vehicle than to take our chances.”
Mother of Tomos, Louise Bunford told the court that she could recall pushing Tomos to get him as far away from the vehicle as possible, and then grabbed hold of their youngest of three children - Clemmie, a baby - and hurled herself out of the truck too before throwing Clemmie as far away as possible.
"I remember pushing Tomos as far as I could from the truck"
Clemmie survived, as did the couple's 15-year-old, Gethin.
Gethin didn't manage to escape the vehicle, and remained sat inside beside Rhys when the vehicle eventually came to a stop in a 'jack knife position', with the truck and the water tank 'having turned 180 degrees'.
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Rhys said he recalled himself and Gethin rushing out of the vehicle and immediately heading to baby Clemmie, who had also survived.
Louise said: "It all happened so quickly.
"When I was under the vehicle I remember looking up and thinking the tank was coming around to me. I thought: ‘It’s okay, it’s coming for me, at least the others will be safe.’ Before that I remember pushing Tomos as far as I could from the truck because I didn’t want him to go under it.”
"He wanted to be a vet"
Following the accident, Rhys carried son Tomos halfway up the hill immediately after the incident at around 10.00am before placing him on the ground and 'attempting to resuscitate' him.
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Emergency services then arrived to the scene promptly, and CPR was performed as well as a blood transfusion due to the volume of blood lost, but resuscitation attempts were stopped at 11.59am.
Forensic pathologist Dr John Williams’ findings have concluded that the tragic death of Tomos was caused by 'blunt force injury to the chest and abdomen'.
Assistant coroner for South Wales Central, Gavin Knox, determined that Tomos died as a result of an accident.
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Tomas is buried within a garden on the family farm just 25 metres from the home, along with his quadbike and go-kart.
Grieving dad Rhys told The Mirror in 2022: "Tomos loved school.
"He wanted to be a vet, and when he'd go into school the teacher and kids would ask, 'What have you done this morning, Tom?' and he'd go, 'Oh, I've collected 1,200 eggs, I've trayed them up, fed the cows'."
The family wants to raise awareness in order to prevent any trauma for other farming families.
Rhys said: "We just need to make all these farming families who haven't had an accident in their area or family to be aware.
"We were one of those families. If we could talk to every young family with a farming background to prevent this we would. If we can make the industry safer by this we will do it."
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
Featured Image Credit: WalesOnline/The Bunford family