A man is dead after a fatal collision between a truck and a tractor that took place just north of Roseau River Monday morning.

As Fire Chief Barry Gushuliak understands it, the tractor operator was travelling southbound along Highway 59, at around 7:15 a.m. when he was suddenly struck.

“A feed truck hit the tractor and sent it flying through the ditch and into a wooded area. The truck also flipped on its side and landed in the ditch.”

When firefighters arrived at the scene they initially presumed that the tractor had been parked and that the truck driver was the only person involved. Gushuliak says the crash must have happened so fast that the driver had not noticed anyone riding the farm equipment. Then his crews discovered the body.

“As far as we know, the occupant of the tractor was thrown from the tractor and somehow got pinned underneath the trailer of the truck and that is where my guys found him,” says Gushuliak.

When his crews located the man, he was deceased.

RCMP officers arrived on scene shortly afterward and instructed the firefighters to remove the body from its position beneath the truck. They are now investigating the matter to determine who was at fault and if any charges will be laid. 

Police say that alcohol and speed are not factors in the collision.

Morris RCMP along with the Criminal Collision Investigation Team and a Forensic Collision Reconstructionist, continue to investigate.

Gushuliak says these kinds of rare incidents always weigh heavily on the minds of his members and notes they have already held a debriefing session to discuss what had happened.

“It was a very freaky accident,” he says. “So I will keep checking up with them to see how they are dealing with the repercussions of trauma.”

That being said, he acknowledges that the feelings of loss the man’s family must now be dealing with are incomparable. Gushuliak offers his sincerest condolences.