Boys, 9 and 11, killed when tractor pulling trailer rolls on Alberta road

TABER, Alta. — Two children from a Hutterite colony have died after they were riding on a flatbed trailer being pulled by a tractor that rolled in southern Alberta.

RCMP say the crash happened Sunday night west of Taber as a group of seven youths were on their way to go swimming at the Chin Reservoir recreation area.

Const. Corinne Oliver says an adult who was driving the tractor lost control of the machine as it went down a steep hill on a rural road.

The trailer carrying the youths then flipped on top of some of them.

Two brothers died at the scene.

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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 an 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.”

Two other children were taken to Taber hospital with minor injuries.

The Canadian Press