An annual truck and tractor pull in Iowa began as a day of family fun until one tractor careened into the crowd.
According to a report by WHO, the event on Sunday, September 1, 2013 is a yearly tradition in Diagonal, Iowa. Organizers from the Lions Club said it was an unfortunate fluke when a driver lost control of a tractor. It happened because when a truck pulls the sled, a weighted box moves forward slowly to make the sled more difficult to tow; things went wrong Sunday when the box malfunctioned and did not move.
“The tractor was speeding faster and faster and they couldn’t get him stopped and it just went up into the crowd,” said witness Diane Wales. She said it was a disaster.
“All the years we’ve been doing it, it’s never happened,” said Jim Norris from the Diagonal Lions Club. “We haven’t had any accidents at all. That was the first one and luckily no one was, you know, hurt real bad.”
There were no serious injuries, although one woman was sent to the hospital, according to WHO.
Organizers have already been thinking of more safety precautions, including extending the track and putting-up concrete barriers.