Amish Man Killed In Forklift Accident (Missouri)

A tragic accident happened yesterday morning in Macon County, Missouri – and not one you might expect to see involving Amish people. More from KTVO:

WEST OF ETHEL, Mo. — A member of a northeast Missouri Amish community was killed in a Macon County forklift crash Tuesday morning.

The tragedy happened just before 7:30 a.m. on Beechnut Street, three miles west of Ethel.

The state trooper working the crash told KTVO the victim was a 21-year-old man from Ethel.

The man was a passenger on a the forklift.

How did it happen?

The piece of machinery was operated by a 19-year-old Ethel man.

Investigators said the forklift was eastbound, hauling bags of animal feed, when the 19-year-old lost control.

It went off the left side of the road and overturned.

The trooper said he believes the forklift was traveling too fast for conditions.

The piece of machinery was headed downhill on a road with fresh gravel.

The 21-year-old passenger was ejected, and the forklift landed on top of him.

He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Just awful to hear. There is apparently an investigation ongoing by the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s investigation arm.

When tragedy involving Amish people strikes, it most often involves some kind of crash between a motor vehicle and an horse-drawn vehicle. But the Amish do use other transport technologies as well.

So while you might be surprised to hear of an Amish person involved in a forklift accident, but in a good number of communities the Amish do use equipment like forklifts or skid loaders. And you do hear of accidents happening.

Macon County is noteworthy for having five separate Amish settlements within its borders. Most of them are small, in the 50-100+ person range.

The Ethel-area community is the largest of the group, at around 125 people. Condolences to this young man’s family and community.

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