The Associated Press and midwestern US media outlets are reporting this morning on a truck crash that occured Saturday night outside Wadsworth, Illinois.
The driver of a truck hauling a double-decker trailer-load of horses ran a stop sign and collided with a pickup. The trailer turned over, ramp-side down. The horses were trapped inside. It took five hours to get them out. By then, nine or thirteen, depending on which authority you believe, were dead.
That’s nine (or 13) out of 59 Belgian draft horses (not Shetland ponies) that were packed, sardine-like, into a single two-story trailer.
It seems logistically impossible but I have checked this story with several sources.
The Chicago Daily Herald has some first-person accounts; the photo above and more information can be sourced from the Chicago Tribune.
Yes, they were heading to an auction; their trip began in Indiana. The driver was released by police and got on a plane. The surviving horses are receiving medical care from volunteers at a local farm.
