Prosecutors have decided to drop charges against a tractor driver accused of killing two women by driving his threshing machine over them after they determined he had no way of seeing them through the tall corn.

The incident took place in a cornfield in the comune of San Giuliano Milanese near the Italian city of Milan on 3rd July, when the Italian farmhand ran over the two Moroccan women, killing them both.

The women, identified as 32-year-old Hanan Nekhla and 28-year-old Sara El Jaafari, had allegedly fallen asleep in the cornfield after consuming drugs and alcohol there with two male friends.

Prosecutors have now surmised that the unnamed tractor driver would not have been able to see the women from the cabin of his vehicle, as the corn in the field was over six feet tall.

Following the incident, the women’s friends are believed to have fled the scene without seeking help, and they may now be charged with failing to assist people in an emergency.

The women were sleeping rough, and although they may have simply nodded off in the cornfield at the time, prosecutors also consider that they could possibly have been knocked unconscious by the strong insecticide used on the crops.

Tin foil typically used in drug consumption and empty beer bottles were found next to the dead bodies, which were discovered at night.

The man, who was initially accused of manslaughter “as a formality”, told the police during questioning that he had felt no impact when driving his vehicle when the incident took place.