tributes were paid yesterday to the seven-year-old boy who died after falling
from a steam engine being driven by his father.
Karl Doran died of head injuries after apparently being hit by a trailer that the steam engine, which was being driven by his father, Phillip, was towing at the Beamish museum in County Durham.
Mr Doran and his son were steam engine enthusiasts and frequent volunteers at
the open air museum, which had around 2,500 visitors on Sunday afternoon
when the tragedy happened. Neither were employed by the museum or paid to
ride the engine.
Police appealed for witnesses and said that a tram or bus would have been
passing the engine, which was being driven along a road adjacent to the
museum’s railway line, when Karl fell.
The youngster lived with his father and mother Karen, 43, in Darlington. The
family declined to comment, but his aunt, Sarah Doran, posted online: “Our
beautiful angel, taken to soon, love you so much gorgeous fella x”.
Karl died after falling from an engine like this being driven
by his father
DCI Victoria Fuller, who is leading the joint investigation, said: “We are
treating this as a tragic incident and are working with our colleagues in
the Health and Safety Executive to establish the exact circumstances.
"We have already spoken to a number of witnesses but need to speak to some key people who may have been on a bus or tram which passed the traction engine around the time of the incident which occurred at around 3pm.”
A post mortem carried out on Sunday showed that death was due to a head injury. Mr Doran, 41, was taken to hospital suffering from shock but was later able to speak to police.
Richard Evans, the museum director, said today: “We continue to support the joint investigation and offer our deep condolences to Karl’s family.”
Beamish is award-winning “living” museum, which has working trams and other old fashioned machines driving around its grounds. At the time of the accident it was packed with families on the opening weekend of the school holidays.
After the accident the museum was evacuated and closed, but a spokesman said they took the “difficult” decision to re-open yesterday because they were expecting visitors from all over the country and to close it at short notice would have caused difficulty for those travelling.
The museum is one of the north east’s major tourists attractions and preserves life as it was in 1913.
Its thousands of objects and original, replica and relocated buildings are based on the early 20th century, late Victorian period and the Industrial Revolution of 1825.
They include a replica town, village, railway station and farm which helps preserve traditional and rare livestock breeds, as well as a mid-19th century drift mine
Durham county councillor Carl Marshall, from Stanley, was at the museum with his family when the accident happened, and witnessed efforts to save the boy at the top end of the events field.
He said: “It was quite frantic for a few minutes. It is tragic.
"I don’t know exactly what happened. There were a couple of steam vehicles on that part of the museum when we arrived.
“Staff seemed to act very promptly.”
"We have already spoken to a number of witnesses but need to speak to some key people who may have been on a bus or tram which passed the traction engine around the time of the incident which occurred at around 3pm.”
A post mortem carried out on Sunday showed that death was due to a head injury. Mr Doran, 41, was taken to hospital suffering from shock but was later able to speak to police.
Richard Evans, the museum director, said today: “We continue to support the joint investigation and offer our deep condolences to Karl’s family.”
Beamish is award-winning “living” museum, which has working trams and other old fashioned machines driving around its grounds. At the time of the accident it was packed with families on the opening weekend of the school holidays.
After the accident the museum was evacuated and closed, but a spokesman said they took the “difficult” decision to re-open yesterday because they were expecting visitors from all over the country and to close it at short notice would have caused difficulty for those travelling.
The museum is one of the north east’s major tourists attractions and preserves life as it was in 1913.
Beamish Museum
Its thousands of objects and original, replica and relocated buildings are based on the early 20th century, late Victorian period and the Industrial Revolution of 1825.
They include a replica town, village, railway station and farm which helps preserve traditional and rare livestock breeds, as well as a mid-19th century drift mine
Durham county councillor Carl Marshall, from Stanley, was at the museum with his family when the accident happened, and witnessed efforts to save the boy at the top end of the events field.
He said: “It was quite frantic for a few minutes. It is tragic.
"I don’t know exactly what happened. There were a couple of steam vehicles on that part of the museum when we arrived.
“Staff seemed to act very promptly.”
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