Child Dies In Accident At Durham Museum

A child has died in an accident at Beamish Museum in County Durham, police have said.

It is understood the boy was riding on a traction engine when he fell and was hit by the trailer the engine was towing, suffering fatal head injuries.

North East Ambulance Service confirmed the boy died at the scene.

The incident was reported just before 3pm on Sunday and the whole site remains closed after it was evacuated.

Inspector Steve Dowdle from Durham Constabulary said: "The engine driver was taken to hospital suffering from shock.

"He will be spoken to by police at an appropriate time and is being treated as a witness.

"The identities of those involved are not being released until relatives have been informed, but it is understood that neither of them were visitors to the museum.

"Detectives and road policing officers are at the museum to establish exactly what took place."

He said a joint investigation would be carried out by police and the Health and Safety Executive.

Richard Evans, director of Beamish Museum, said: "We are naturally very shocked and our thoughts are with the boy's family at this time.

"We took the immediate decision to close the museum for the rest of the day while we support the investigation."

Beamish is an open air museum depicting Victorian life in northeast England.