Advertisement Pickup truck crashes into wagon train, killing 1 person, horse, report says Several people injured taking part in Labor Day wagon train trip Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A pickup truck crashed into a wagon train Friday afternoon in Western North Carolina, killing one person and a horse, according to Mountaineer Publishing.The wagon train is part of an annual Labor Day weekend event. The Mountaineer reported that up to 18 wagons and 20 or more horses made up the wagon train. The cross-county trip culminates with participation in the Canton Labor Day parade.The crash happened in Maggie Valley on Jonathan Creek Road in front of Pride Resort around noon Friday.Wagon train drivers said the collision was enormous. One said it sounded like a bomb went off. Witnesses said several people and horses were hurt.Tim and Karan Goins, from Morristown, Tennessee, said they were staying at the Pride Resort and witnessed the accident. They said they saw a horse thrown over the guardrail when it was hit by a man driving a late-model Ford Ranger. "When I saw it, that man in the white truck was still moving after he hit it," said Karan Goins. "People were flying and one horse was pinned against the rail."The horse was put down at the scene, the Goins said.Another horse suffered serious injuries to its hind leg and was taken to a veterinarian to be treated.Karan Goins described the driver as a tall, slender man in his late 20s or 30s, and said he was overheard on his phone telling someone that he just ran into a trailer with some horses.The Goins said the driver sounded "out of it" and didn't seem "super panicked" about what had happened.Tim Goins, who served as an Army medic, said he immediately began helping the young boy who was calling for his papaw. He said he saw one man trapped under the truck and another injured man who was out in the road.David Coen and his wife, Brenda, were two of the first people to come upon the accident scene."We saw one horse near the guardrail and two more in the middle of the road, and just wood everywhere," David Coen said.He said the man who died at the scene was in the middle of the road, and emergency personnel were performing CPR on him. David Coen said that a child, who he estimated to be 8 or 9, was among those taken to the hospital.Multiple emergency responders and veterinarians were at the accident scene caring for the victims, according to witnesses. Wagon train members are a tight-knit family, and many were visibly shaken by the crash, the Mountaineer reported. They walked up and down the line of wagons hugging, crying and praying together. "Wagon train people are like family. We stick together in times like these. I just can't understand how this happened," said Chris Owen, whose wagon was about mid-way down the line.One person said the wagon train had a police escort until shortly before the accident occurred. There was no immediate word on the conditions of those injured in the crash and no identities have been released.As of late Friday afternoon, no charges had been filed in the crash."I just wish that people would think more carefully about how they drive," Owen said. "Pay attention to your surroundings and slow down."