By Christiane Bosch, Valentin Frimmer and Christina Sticht, dpa
BERLIN – The young boy killed in the accident was 5 years old, an emergency chaplain told dpa. Four of the injured children had to be taken to hospitals by helicopter, according to local fire brigade spokesman Mathias Wille.
The accident happened at a camp that fathers had organized with their children of kindergarten age in Toppenstedt, about 35 kilometres south of Hamburg. The group were riding “for fun” down a dirt road in a lattice box lifted up by the excavator, the fire brigade spokesman said.
The box broke off and fell to the ground. Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident and an expert is on site to examine the vehicle more closely, Wille said.
A police spokesman initially said that a ruptured hydraulic hose appeared to be the caused of the accident.
The deceased father and the deceased child were not related, the fire brigade spokesman said. He could not say whether any of the injured children’s lives were in danger.
“It’s always the nightmare scenario when children are affected. Terrible scenes have happened here. Parents had to be prevented from running to the scene of the accident,” Wille said. He could not remember a comparable disaster in the area in the past 20 years.
The driver of the excavator was taken to a police station and would be subjected to “routine” checks for possible influence of drugs or alcohol, police spokesman Jan Krüger said.
It was not initially known how many people had taken part in the camp. On Saturday evening, individual tents could still be seen on the meadow.
