Two Amish Children Killed After Pickup Truck Hits Buggy in Northern Indiana (UPDATE: Children Identified)

Awful news of a deadly crash Friday in Indiana’s largest Amish settlement. The buggy was rear-ended by a pickup truck, on a road which appears to have a wide buggy lane (more on that below). Details on what happened from WSBT:

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — A crash on State Road 4 killed two children and injured two others on Friday morning.

Shortly after 8 a.m. on State Road 4 just south of Middlebury, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s office responded to the scene of a crash between a horse drawn buggy and pickup truck.

Both the buggy and truck were traveling west on State Road 4 when the truck collided with the back of the horse drawn cart.

According to the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office, there were four children in the buggy.

Two were brought to the hospital for serious injuries, and two were pronounced dead in the 13000 block of State Road 4.

Children traveling in the early morning of a weekday often means they are heading to school. The Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash shortly after 8 AM, so that’s likely what we have here.

State Road 4 heads east from Goshen into “Amish Country”. I used to drive this road often when I lived in Goshen for a summer, back and forth from the Amish community, and it would be a primary way of travel into and out of the city.

The road in the area where the crash happened has an extended shoulder, what I think could reasonably be called a “buggy lane”. You can see what that looks like in these photos. The report by WSBT states that they have “reached out to Elkhart County and INDOT officials to confirm where official lanes are.”

Whether they’re official or not, it does appear to be a sufficient space for a horse-drawn buggy to travel. Just eyeballing the width in the images and footage provided, I’m seeing a buggy lane.

You can see in this next photo it’s about the same width as the van parked on the side of the road (a buggy is significantly narrower than your average car):

The video report by WSBT (embedded below) seems to be drawing attention to the need for more buggy lanes. But in this particular case, it seems there was in fact one available for travel.

And at this point, we don’t officially know where exactly the crash happened – on the shoulder/buggy lane, or was the buggy more out and in the main lane of travel?

There just aren’t enough details to draw any conclusions. And of course that is what the ongoing investigation is for. No charges have been filed, nor is there really much information provided about the driver, or his/her vehicle.

Prayers, of course, for this family or families involved, for their losses and that the two injured surviving children make a full recovery. Hard to imagine what they are going through right now.

The latest deadly buggy crash in Northern Indiana

The Amish in northern Indiana have seen some deadly accidents recently. Just this past December, an older Amish couple died in a wreck when they were rear-ended by a dump truck. This wreck also happened on a road with a “buggy lane” when the truck “drifted” into the lane.

So this is another indication that it is not all about having the buggy lanes – though most believe, and I would think it’s only logical, that an additional lane for slow-moving traffic can only make things safer.

Last spring, in the nearby community of Nappanee, three siblings were killed in a wreck which also happened on the way to school as the children traveled in a pony cart. That happened on a stretch of road which did not have a dedicated lane or widened shoulder for horse-drawn traffic.

Update: Children Identified

The two Amish children who were killed in the wreck have been identified – an 8-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy. More from MNC:

8-year-old Jenna Miller and 7-year-old Derek Bontrager, have been identified as the two children who were pronounced dead at the scene. The pony pulling the cart also died.

Two other children were taken to Memorial Hospital with serious injuries. There is no update on their conditions.

The crash remains under investigation, and toxicology results for the pickup truck driver are still pending.

It should also be noted that this was a pony cart, not a traditional full-sized buggy as initial reports suggested.

Going by these poor children’s last names, there are at least two families involved here. God bless them and may He be with them at this time of loss.

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