Three young daughters including a set of 11-year-old twins have died after suffocating in canola at their parent’s farm in Alberta, Canada.
The three girls were playing in the back of a truck being loaded with canola when they became trapped and suffocated.
A news report in the Edmonton Journal says the children were from a largely home-schooling rural community, where life centres around farm activities, arts and crafts, card games and board games.
The father’s Facebook profile shows the family sitting together beside a farm truck. He is wearing a T-shirt with the words “Born to farm.”
A member of the Royal Mounted Police, Sgt. Mike Numan, read a statement released by the family, saying: “Our kids died living life on the farm. It is a family farm. We do not regret raising and involving our kids … on our farm. It was our life.”
The three girls were Catie Bott, 13, and twins Dara and Jana Bott, who were 11.
Reports say emergency crews were called to the farm near at around 6:15 pm on Tuesday after the three girls were buried underneath canola seed in the back of a truck on the property.
The truck was being filled by a hopper. Canola is particularly dangerous because the seeds are tiny and it moves like quicksand, meaning a person can quickly become submerged, and there is no way to breathe, because the seeds fill the nose and mouth instantly. It’s also very difficult to drag a person out of canola, because the weight forces the body down.
Pastor Brian Allan of the Withrow Gospel Mission said local folk had rushed to the family’s aid, and last night, there were up to nine combines and trucks owned by the neighbours working to finish the harvest for the Botts.
