BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Friday, June 25, 2010

Services

The services for Emil Hopf are as follows:

The visitation is at the Becher-Kluesner Funeral Home in Jasper, Indiana on Sunday, June 25 from 11-8(?).

The funeral is at St. Rapheal in DuBois, Indiana on Monday, June 26 at 10 am. All times are EST. If you are planning on getting a hotel room, please call the individual hotels. Most of them are fully booked due to Holiday World. I am heading to IN on Saturday and if you need anything please call, as I will have very limited internet access. Here are the three articles from the Jasper
Herald detaling the accident.



Wednesday, June 23, 2010



By BILL POWELL

Herald Staff Writer



DUBOIS — A 71-year-old man was taken by helicopter to an Evansville hospital overnight after a tractor rollover earlier Tuesday left him partially submerged in a creek for as long as seven hours.

It is believed the victim, whose identity was not released and whose injuries were not disclosed by presstime, will recover. The man reportedly remained conscious throughout his ordeal and talked with his rescuers.

Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services, the Dubois Volunteer Fire Department and the Dubois County Sheriff's Department were notified about the accident at a farm in the 2700 block of East County Road 300N at 10:49 p.m.

The man had been doing logging work using a tractor with a front-end loader near a creek more than one and a half miles from County Road 300N, according to fire department spokesman Zach Eichmiller. Although details are sketchy, the tractor rolled over into the creek that was more than 5 feet deep and its loader attachment apparently trapped the man's leg.

A member of the Dubois fire department who helps run the farm discovered the victim after the trapped man's wife called to inquire about her husband's whereabouts. The firefighter went to the farm and saw that the man's truck was parked there and a tractor was missing. The man was known to use that particular tractor when either feeding cattle or logging, Eichmiller said.

After driving to an area on the property where the family had done some logging, the firefighter heard the man's cries for help after shutting off his truck's engine. The man was thought to have been pinned for about six hours at that point, according to Eichmiller.

"He had to use his one hand to keep his head out of water for that entire time," Eichmiller said. "He was laying mostly submerged in water except for his head."

The firefighter who found the man stayed with him and used a two-way radio he had with him to notify authorities about the accident.

It took the combined efforts of a large winch on one of the fire department's trucks and a winch on a Uebelhor & Sons wrecker to free the victim, who was flown from the scene, according to Eichmiller. It took at least 45 minutes after the victim was found to free him, according to authorities.

Eichmiller indicated that a rollbar was thought to have kept the toppled tractor from rolling totally on top of the man. Authorities were told the tractor's rollbar was seldom engaged and was normally kept flipped down. Pins on each side of the rollbar would need to be used to lock it in place if it was deployed as a safety device.

After the tractor was pulled from the creek, Eichmiller said, he pushed on the rollbar and it easily went back down. "As (the tractor) went over, that rollbar had to have flipped up and it caught itself.

"It was just his day."



Contact Bill Powell at bpowell@dcherald.com.



Update – Thursday, June 24



EVANSVILLE — The victim in a Tuesday tractor rollover accident was listed in critical condition today at an Evansville hospital.



Emil Hopf, 71, 3259 N. 325E, Dubois, is in the surgical trauma intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital, according to a hospital spokesman.



Hopf was doing logging work using a tractor with a front-end loader at a remote site on a farm in the 2700 block of East County Road 300N when the tractor rolled over into a creek Tuesday afternoon, according to authorities. The tractor’s loader attachment trapped Hopf’s leg.



Authorities said the victim had to prop himself up to keep his head above water.



Hopf’s wife placed calls while searching for her husband and Greg Mehling, a member of the Dubois Volunteer Fire Department who is Hopf’s nephew by marriage, went searching for him. Mehling also helps run the farm.



Mehling located Hopf and used a two-way radio to notify authorities about the accident at 10:49 p.m. Tuesday. It took the combined efforts of a large winch on one of the fire department’s trucks and a winch on a Uebelhor & Sons wrecker to free Hopf, who authorities said may have been trapped in the creek for as long as seven hours.



Hopf was flown by helicopter from the scene to the Evansville hospital.



Update – Friday, June 25, 2010



EVANSVILLE — The victim in a Tuesday tractor rollover accident died Thursday night at an Evansville hospital.



Emil Hopf, 71, 3259 N. 325E, Dubois, was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. CDT at St. Mary’s Hospital, according to the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office. An autopsy was planned for today.



Hopf was doing logging work using a tractor with a front-end loader at a remote site on a farm in the 2700 block of East County Road 300N when the tractor rolled over into a creek Tuesday afternoon, trapping him, according to authorities.



Hopf, who was trapped in the water for hours, was flown by helicopter from the scene to the Evansville hospital.



Bill Powell

Staff Writer

The Herald

216 E. Fourth St.

Jasper IN 47546

(812)482-2626 (ext. 116)

bpowell@dcherald.com

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