An out-of-control tractor pulling a hayride flipped and crashed at a weekly youth outing in upstate New York Sunday, leaving three people in critical condition and over a dozen others injured, according to cops and local reports.
The hayride was carrying 19 people — mostly children — when it rolled while attempting to make a turn around 4:30 p.m. in Wellsburg, a small village just across the Pennsylvania border, WENY reported.
The John Deere driver was pulling the hay wagon down Comfort Hill Road toward Berwick Turnpike when the tractor tried to turn at an intersection too fast, Chemung County Sheriff Bill Schrom said.
The tractor appeared to lose control as it sped toward the intersection and the driver swerved to the right, causing it to overturn and the wagon to disconnect — and eject everyone on board, Schrom told the New York Times.
At least 14 people were injured, Schrom said. One individual was airlifted to a hospital and at least five others were transported to Robert Packer Hospital by ambulance. Another eight were taken to the hospital by private means.
Three of the wounded are in critical condition, RochesterFirst reported.
It’s unclear how many of the injured are children, but witnesses said most of the riders were kids.
The group taking the hayride were German Baptists, a religious Anabaptist sect that was holding a youth gathering the day of the crash, RochesterFirst reported.
Authorities said that an investigation is ongoing to determine what led up to the crash.
