A truck hauling logs barreled out of control on an Arkansas hill and dumped its cargo on a crew of more than two dozen construction workers building a bridge, leaving two dead and 21 others injured, law enforcement officials said on Tuesday.
The brakes on the truck may have failed when the mishap occurred Monday afternoon on a U.S. 65 bridge in Clinton, about 70 miles north of Little Rock, Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley said.
As the logs barreled down the hill, construction workers had no place to escape, Reuters reported.
"They were like sitting ducks on the bridge," Bradley said. "There was nowhere for them to run to get away from the logs."
While 19 people were taken to a hospital in Clinton, the driver of the logging truck was reported to have suffered minor injuries, the Associated Press reported.
Ozark Health Medical Center administrator David Deaton said 12 of those patients suffered "major injuries." About five of the injured were in critical condition.
The bridge was being widened from three lanes to five when the accident with the crew on an Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department project occurred.
After Jerry Hickman drove down an incline toward the northern edge of the bridge, the truck flipped. Logs fell off the truck and landed on the workers on the bridge, according to the AP.
"He got up to a good speed when he lost it," Bradley said.
Rescue teams had to cross steel rebar rods to reach the injured, he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"It was pretty horrific," he said. "We had people trapped under logs, people with broken legs, people with severe head lacerations. It was very chaotic."
The truck driver has not been charged but was in custody for a matter related to a previous offense, Reuters reported.
