PLYMOUTH, Ind. -- Five firefighters were killed when a veteran fire truck driver lost control of the vehicle on the way to a house fire and careened off the road and down an embankment.
The pumper went off the road in northern Indiana as it came out of a curve about 3 miles south of Plymouth Saturday.
It was heading for a small house fire at Lake Latonka, Marshall County police said. One firefighter survived.
Alphonse Kriscunas, 62, lost control of the truck and zigzagged across a center line, bursting through a steel guardrail before heading down an embankment.
The truck rammed a utility pole and came to rest on its roof in marshy ground -- pinning all five victims underneath.
The dead were identified as Kriscunas, a fulltime firefighter, and volunteers Brian Samuels, 26, Dane Hoffhein, 33, Randy Hansen, 30, and Gary VanVactor, 24.
Sean O'Keefe, 27, was hurled through the windshield and suffered a sprained neck. He was treated and released.
It took three hours of work in the soft ground to get the victims' bodies out from under the wreckage, authorities said.
Police said they did not know if mechanical difficulties caused the crash or if a weight shift of water caried by the truck threw it off balance.
'It's a terrible tragedy for our community,' said Mayor Charles O. Glaub. 'Everyone here is upset and in a state of shock. The effect of the tragedy will be far-reaching.'
The fire had been doused by the time another truck got to the house, police said. There were no injuries and minimal damage.
