Here is the article about my second cousin

Boy, 12, dies in go-cart mishap

Youth is hit by tractor on country road

BY: MELINDA DALTON

KURTZVILLE, ONT. (Aug 12, 2006)

A 12-year-old Palmerston boy died yesterday only metres from his grandmother's house after the go-cart he was riding in was hit head-on by a tractor.

The victim, Alex Van Oostveen, was celebrating his 12th birthday and visiting his grandmother in Kurtzville at the time of the crash.

The collision happened at about 4:15 p.m. on Perth Line 88 near the intersection of Line 178.

The boy was riding around the yards of several neighbouring houses in a homebuilt motorized go-kart, said Perth OPP Const. Glen Childerly.

The go-kart pulled out onto the shoulder of the highway and was crushed by a tractor pulling two grain trailers, Childerly said.

"The front end of the tractor collided with the go-kart and it was dragged," he said. "It hit almost straight on . . . The tractor then rolled onto the lawn of a residence."

North Perth firefighters and emergency crews arrived a short time later and an air ambulance from London was summoned.

CPR was performed at the scene, but the air ambulance was called off before it landed. The boy was taken to Listowel Memorial Hospital by land ambulance where he died, police said.

The boy was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, but his injuries were too severe, police said.

The tractor wasn't travelling fast, but the nearly 3,000-kilogram load of wheat it was pulling made stopping quickly impossible, police said. The driver of the tractor was not injured.

Yesterday evening, the tractor remained on its side on the front lawn of a home, the crushed cherry-red go-cart under its wheels.

Solemn neighbours filed past, some shaking their heads at the scene.

The roadway is generally quiet, they said, but this time of the year traffic picks up as farmers bring in their crops.

"It's wheat harvest season and there's a lot of farmers taking their wheat to the mill up the road," said Murray Williams, who lives around the corner from the scene of the collision. "It gets pretty busy."

Police were continuing their investigation.

mdalton@therecord.com

found online "the record" at this address.