A young boy and a man died in an accident while driving an excavator in Toppenstedt in the German state of Lower Saxony. Ten other children were injured on Saturday night, some seriously, four of them had to be taken to clinics by helicopter, Mathias Wille, spokesman for the Harburg district fire service, told the German news agency. According to an emergency pastor, the deceased child was five years old.
The accident happened during a camp organized by fathers with their children in kindergarten. A group was driven by an excavator on a dirt road “for fun”, according to the fire service spokesman. Meanwhile, the people were in a kind of lattice box that the wheel loader had lifted.
Mesh box broken
At an exit, the box broke off and fell to the floor. The vehicle is now being examined in more detail, an expert is on site, according to Wille. A police drone flew over the area on Saturday night. According to the fire service, the deceased father and the deceased child were not related to each other. The spokesperson could not initially say whether children are in danger.
“That is always the horror when children are affected. Terrible scenes have played out here. Parents had to be prevented from running to the scene of the accident,” Wille reports. He could not recall such a disaster in the area in the last 20 years.
Excavator seized for investigation
The excavator has been seized by the police for investigation. The driver has been taken to a police station, said police spokesman Jan Krüger at the scene of the accident on Saturday evening. There would be “routine” investigations into possible influence from alcohol or drugs. A drone documents the location from the air, the spokesman said. Work is still ongoing. They would drag into the night.
According to the police, the accident was probably caused by a ruptured hydraulic hose. This caused the box to become detached from the excavator and fall down.
It was not initially known how many people had taken part in the camp. On Saturday night, individual tents could still be seen on the pasture, which is said to be owned by the community. It wasn’t a nursery, the deputy head of the DPA’s Toppenstedt integrative kindergarten said late Saturday night. The campsite was privately organized.
Source: Krone
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