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Written by THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Thursday, 28 August 2008 |
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MCLENNAN, Alta. - Two young brothers have died after being sucked beneath a load of grain and smothered on a farm in northwestern Alberta.
The incident happened about 160 kilometres northeast of Grande Prairie, Alta., RCMP said Thursday.
Sgt. Ged Dentinger refused to identify the boys and exactly where the farm is, saying only that it's in Birch Hills County.
The boys, aged five and seven, were on top of a grain trailer that was being unloaded by a family member on Wednesday, he said.
"They were unloading the grain and at some point it was realized that the boys, at least one of them anyway, was trapped in the grain," he said.
The unidentified family member soon realized that a second boy was also missing and quickly determined that he, too, was inside the large bin.
"These types of trailers, there's a chute underneath. It comes into a hopper and at the base of the hopper there's a sliding trap door that opens to unload these trailers, so they unload very rapidly," he said.
They were able to extract the boys through the chute at the bottom of the grain trailer about five minutes after they went in, he said.
Bystanders tried to revive them, but the boys were pronounced dead by emergency medical officials who arrived on the scene.
No names have been released.
The incident was a sad reminder of the dangers of harvest time, Dentinger said.
Farmers are very busy and only have a short amount of time to get their crops off, he said.
It's not uncommon for children to be on top of such farming equipment, watching as the grain is unloaded, Dentinger said, adding sometimes safety isn't given the attention that's required.
"These young children can't foresee danger the way we see it. It's the responsibility of the parents to make sure their children aren't exposed to dangerous situations that occur on a farm on a daily basis," Dentinger said.
The easiest way to do that is to keep them away from farm equipment, he added.
Police aren't contemplating any charges in the incident, Dentinger said.
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