Lower Saxony
Young boy and man die in wheel loader accident
A child and an adult died in an accident during an excursion with an excavator in the Harburg district. photo
© Christiane Bosch/dpa
Fathers camp with their children in a small town south of Hamburg – but the joint camp ends in a fatal accident. The clarification will take some time.
A five-year-old boy and a 39-year-old man died in an accident while driving with a wheel loader in Toppenstedt, south of Hamburg. Ten other children between the ages of four and ten were injured on Saturday, some of them seriously, a fire department spokesman for the German Press Agency said. All were participants in a camp that fathers had organized privately as a joint activity with their children.
According to the previous investigations, a 44-year-old participant in the tent camp had invited several children and an adult into a transport basket on the front fork of a wheel loader in the early evening. The action should serve “for amusement”, as a fire department spokesman said. While driving on a nearby dirt road, the lattice box suddenly came loose, causing the occupants to fall forward from a height of around three meters. They were probably partially hit by the falling metal basket, it said.
The police confiscated the wheel loader for investigation after the accident. Proceedings were initiated against the 44-year-old driver on suspicion of negligent homicide. He was taken to a police station and tested “on a routine basis” for alcohol or drugs in his blood. According to the police, the investigation of the accident will take some time.
Four children flown to hospital in helicopters
Four of the injured children had to be flown to the hospital by helicopter. The police were initially unable to provide any information on their state of health on Sunday. It was also not known whether children were in mortal danger.
“It’s always the horror idea when children are affected,” said the fire department spokesman a few hours after the accident. “Terrible scenes have already happened here. Parents had to be prevented from running to the scene of the accident.”
The mission was one of the most difficult ever for the rescue workers, said an emergency pastor. When children are harmed, this is always emotionally very stressful for the emergency services – many of them are also parents themselves. “It consumes a lot what you experience,” said the pastor. A total of around 80 firefighters, 60 rescue workers and 30 police officers were on duty until late at night.
Tent camp was cancelled
The tent camp was broken up, on Sunday the last tents were taken down on the large meadow near a daycare center. Toppenstedt has a good 2000 inhabitants and is located around 35 kilometers south of Hamburg in the northern Lüneburg Heath.
In the neighboring town of Garstedt, the festival service was rescheduled for a rifle festival. A performance with children was canceled and the program of the women’s choir changed. “We are all very affected,” said a 17-year-old on Sunday. She had rehearsed with children the day before.
“We all feel for those affected and for the emergency services,” emphasized Pastor Wiebke Alex in the festive service. “It is a deeply sad morning for many people.” The pastor cried during prayer and lit candles for the dead.