A postmortem is to be carried out on the body of an eight-year-old girl killed on a County Cork farm yesterday.

An 11-year-old girl is in a critical condition in hospital following the incident which happened in Newtownshandrum near Charleville.

The children were playing in a field in Ballinakill Lower after 6pm yesterday when a tractor bucket fell on them, trapping them underneath.

Gardaí are investigating whether the vehicle had stopped suddenly when the children accidentally ran into its path.

Emergency services were called, but the younger girl was pronounced dead at the scene by a local GP.

The 11-year-old girl was airlifted to Cork University Hospital suffering from crush injuries and is said to be in a critical condition.

The girl who died is understood to have been living in Limerick but was staying with friends while her parents visited family at home in Latvia.

Separate investigations into the incident are underway involving gardaí and the Health and Safety Authority.

Reporter David Raleigh says gardaí had to break the tragic news to the parents of the child who died after they landed at Dublin Airport last night:

Originally posted at 7:15am