Tractor pulling trailer rolls near Taber, killing 2 boys

RCMP are investigating a fatal tractor accident south ofTaber, Alta., that claimed the lives of two boys from the Oaklane HutteriteColony on the weekend.

According to police, a tractor pulling a flat-deck trailer with seven youth passengersdown to the Chin Reservoir to go swimming lost control on a steep hill and rolled.

The trailer rolled on the people riding on it, killing the two boys an 11-year-old and his nine-year-old brother.

Two people who were not hurt went to get help.

First responders from the Municipal District of TaberFire Department, peace officers and EMS were called to the scene described as the bottom of a steep embankment near a sharp curve just north of the Chin Reservoir at around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

Eight people in total were involved in the accident. RCMP say two youths were taken to the Taber hospital with minor injuries and another patient was transported to the Foothills hospital in Calgary in serious condition.

The other three were not injured, RCMP said.

'We always use the tractor and trailer'

Pastor Paul Waldner with the Oaklane colony near Taber identified the boys as two of his relatives Adam Waldner, 11, and nine-year-old Noah Waldner.

He said children in the community go swimming at the nearby reservoir twice a week and regularly ride on the trailer as it's pulled by the tractor.

"We always use the tractor and the trailer. Always," Waldner said.

"They go picking rocks with it, go gardening with it, do fencing with it. That's how we live on a farm."

He said the 18-year-old man who was driving the tractor when it rolled was air-lifted to Calgary's Foothills hospital in serious condition but is expected to recover.

"It'll take time to recuperate but he'll be OK."

Taberis about 270 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

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With files from the Canadian Press