Tragedy on Canada Hayride: 12 Killed

CAP-PELE, Canada —  At least 12 people were reported killed and 30 hurt Sunday when a tractor-trailer hauling logs skidded and crashed into a wagon taking people in a family reunion on a hayride, residents said.

Many of the victims were children, police said.

As many as 50 people were on the family outing near this village in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick, part of a reunion held each Canadian Thanksgiving weekend by the Leger family of Cormier Village. Most were riding aboard a hay-covered wagon towed by a farm tractor.

“The truckload of pulpwood ended up on the people when it failed to negotiate the curve,” said one resident of the village, Gerry LeBlanc, who arrived at the scene shortly after the crash.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police were trying to determine exactly what happened, but Staff Sgt. Len Doucet said two pickup trucks also were involved. Leger said the pickups were following the hayride and also were carrying members of the Leger family.

The accident occurred on two-lane Highway 945 near Cap-Pele.