Deaths of woman, 3 kids in tractor crash ruled accidental
LOWER CHANCEFORD, Pa. — Authorities say the deaths of a woman and three children in a tractor and utility trailer crash in southern Pennsylvania have been ruled accidental.
State police in York County said the farm tractor was pulling a utility trailer with more a dozen other people, mostly children, when it went over an embankment shortly after 11 a.m. Friday in Lower Chanceford and both the tractor and the trailer overturned.
The York County coroner's office said 36-year-old Katie Ann Stoltzfus, her 14-year-old daughter Mary Etta Stoltzfus and her 7-year-old daughter Naomi Rose Stoltzfus were pronounced dead at the scene, as was 9-year-old Caleb Emmanuel Fisher. All died of multiple blunt force trauma.
Police said many of the others in the trailer as the group headed to a recreational area were taken to hospitals by ambulance or helicopter. Further details about their injuries and conditions weren't immediately available. The York Dispatch reports that five children were taken to Hershey Medical Center.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation.