Lower Saxony
All children out of danger after wheel loader accident
Commemoration near the accident site in Toppenstedt, where a grown man and a boy died in an accident. photo
© Jonas Walzberg/dpa
“It’s not just a village that’s mourning, but the whole region,” said the mayor of the Salzhausen municipality two days after the serious wheel loader accident. At least there is good news.
Two days after the serious wheel loader accident that left two dead, the children who were injured are now out of danger. Ten children were taken to hospital after the accident in Toppenstedt on Saturday, four were critically injured, as Wolfgang Krause, independent mayor of the Salzhausen municipality, confirmed on Monday. A crisis intervention team and a couple of pastors cared for those affected in the day-care center and primary school.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday in the Salzhausen Church. It is primarily intended for those affected and helpers, but also for the citizens of the community. “Not only a village mourns, but the whole region,” said Krause. The Schützenfest planned for the beginning of July in Toppenstedt has been cancelled.
According to the previous investigations, a 44-year-old participant in a private tent camp in Toppenstedt had invited several children and an adult in a transport box to the front fork of a wheel loader on Saturday evening. According to a fire department spokesman, the action was intended to serve “for amusement”.
While driving on a dirt road, the metal lattice box suddenly came loose, causing the occupants to fall forward from a height of around three meters. According to the police, they were probably hit by the falling metal basket. An investigation into negligent homicide had been initiated against the 44-year-old, a police spokeswoman said.
“Basically, a lattice box is not intended for transporting people. The extent to which this behavior was prohibited is a legal assessment that will have to be clarified after the comprehensive investigation into the actual events has been completed,” explained Wiebke Bethke, press spokeswoman for the Lüneburg public prosecutor’s office. Usually, bulk cargo is transported in such boxes.
The question of how many people were in the lattice box at the time of the accident is part of the investigation. The same applies to the result of any witness hearings. “An investigation is not conducted publicly, which is why the results of individual investigative measures may not be communicated,” she explained.
A technical report should provide crucial information about the cause of the accident with two dead (5, 39) south of Hamburg. “It will probably take two to three days to finish,” said the spokeswoman for the Winsen police department.