The Cormier-Village hayride accident occurred in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

rural community of Cormier-Village,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, west of Cap-Pelé and east of

Shediac Shediac (official in both languages; ''Shédiac'' is colloquial French) is a heavily Acadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. The town is home to the famous Parlee Beach and is known as the "Lobster Capital of the World". It hosts a ...

Accident

On the afternoon of Sunday, October 8, 1989, the members of the McGraw and Leger families were participating in a

hayride A hayride, also known as a hayrack ride, is a traditional American and Canadian activity consisting of a recreational ride in a wagon or cart pulled by a tractor, horses or a truck, which has been loaded with hay or straw for comfortable seating ...

, travelling in a wagon pulled by a

farm tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

, as well as two following pickup trucks, along the shoulder of Route 945. They were approximately from the end of the ride at a

community hall Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

in Cormier-Village where they had planned a family reunion as part of their celebration of Thanksgiving Weekend. The driver of a

tractor trailer A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer ...

(

logging truck A logging truck or timber lorry is a large truck used to carry logs. Some have integrated flatbeds, some are discrete tractor units, and some are configured to spread a load between the tractor unit and a dollied trailer pulled behind it. Ofte ...

) hauling a 6-tonne load of hardwood logs cut into lengths lost control as he passed, resulting in the entire load of logs tipping onto the tractor/wagon and pickup trucks. 13 people were killed and 45 injured with many victims pinned and crushed; five children were among those who died. Emergency responders from the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

in Shediac, volunteer fire fighters from Cap-Pelé and numerous ambulance paramedics from across Westmorland County responded. Victims were transported to

tertiary care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profess ...

hospitals in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

, approximately away.

Response

The horror of this accident, both for survivors and emergency responders, resulted in the

Government of New Brunswick The Government of New Brunswick (french: Gouvernement du Nouveau-Brunswick) refers to the provincial government of the province of New Brunswick. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. The Province of New Brunswick is ...

forming a provincial Critical Incident Stress Management Team.

References

*''Hay Wagon - Truck Collision Kills 12'' (Associated Press) 9 October 1989 {{coord, 46.1719, N, 64.3519, W, display=title Road incidents in Canada Westmorland County, New Brunswick 1989 in Canada 1989 road incidents 1989 in New Brunswick Accidental deaths in New Brunswick October 1989 events in Canada