A young man 'who took tractor driving lessons on YouTube' was crushed to death by the farm vehicle in Thailand.

Sirimongkol Sitchoke, 21, and his younger brother, 13, took the tractor to remove stubble at a sugarcane field in Buriram province on December 21.

Sirimongkol had left the engine on and left the driver's seat to change the plow. However, the tractor rolled backwards over him, crushing his neck beneath the wheels. His shocked younger sibling ran back to town to call for help.

Police Colonel Chamras Siriliang, superintendent of Mueang Buriram Police Station, went with officers to inspect the scene, where they found Sirimongkol's body at the rear of the John Deere 110hp tractor. They said he was found dead 'by being crushed and compressed around the neck'.

His younger brother said: 'Sirimongkol invited me to the field to clear it of sugarcane stumps. I decided to come along because I wanted to learn how to ride the tractor. I didn't know he would die right in front of me. He didn't even get the chance to call for help when he was crushed.'

Sirimongkol's sister Suphawinee, 25, later arrived weeping at her brother's sudden demise. Speaking through tears, she said: 'I always told him not to drive because he had no expertise. But he kept insisting he knows how because he watched it on YouTube. I tried to stop him many times but he wouldn't listen. This time, he went to drive the tractor without my knowledge.'

The tractor's owner Kamchai Inthorn, 50, said he had hired the deceased as a 'second-in-charge driver'.

Kamchai said he had previously helped to show the lad how to operate the tractor and allowed him to do so on his own 'because it was not difficult work, it's just plowing.'

He said: 'The tractor must have been in neutral gear and parked on a slope, which caused it to roll down.'