Two boys aged 17 and 13 died on Thursday, 15 October, in the evening in Ostrów Świecki in Chełmno County. The tractor they were driving along a flood embankment fell off the embankment and overturned, crushing both of them.
The emergency call reached the services at around 6:25 p.m. Senior Assistant Inspector Agnieszka Stankiewicz of the Chełmno County Police Headquarters said the 17-year-old was driving the tractor and the 13-year-old was riding as a passenger. According to the police, the vehicle was traveling along the crest of the embankment when, for reasons not yet established, the driver lost control of it.
Rescue operation
The tractor overturned onto its roof, and the cab was, as a police officer from TVP Bydgoszcz reported, completely crushed. To reach the injured, firefighters had to lift the vehicle. According to the fire service, as cited by Polsat News, the operation lasted more than an hour. The boys could not be saved. Six fire units took part in the operation, as Interia reports. Photos from the scene were published by the Chełmno County State Fire Service (PSP).
What the police established
The causes and circumstances of the accident will be examined in an investigation supervised by a prosecutor. The police so far refer only to preliminary findings and do not indicate the cause of the accident. According to the regional Radio PIK, the 17-year-old did not have a licence to drive a tractor. We did not find this information in the police or prosecutor’s statement, so we treat it as a media report. As of publication, it has not been disclosed who owned the tractor or why the boys were on the embankment.
The services have not officially released the boys’ identities. Some media outlets publish their first names, but we are refraining from doing so out of respect for the families’ privacy.
What it means
Ostrów Świecki lies in the commune of Chełmno, several dozen kilometres from Bydgoszcz. Flood embankments are earthen mounds with steep slopes, and driving heavy farm machinery along their crest risks overturning the vehicle. Investigators will determine whether anyone is responsible for allowing minors to operate the machine. At this stage, no one has been named as responsible and no charges have been brought.
Driving an agricultural tractor on a public road requires a driving licence of the appropriate category (e.g. T or B). Road traffic regulations refer to public roads, and the legal status of the embankment in this case will only be determined by the investigation.
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