Tractor in action (symbol image):
Photo: Boris Roessler/ dpa
A tractor driver in West Mecklenburg destroyed a power line with a load of manure and caused a power outage.
The 30-year-old man probably wanted to dump the load of manure in a field near Wittendörp on Tuesday evening, the police said.
But he overlooked the fact that the trailer was too close to three long-distance lines.
The trailer was lifted up and tore the lower of the three lines, a 20-kilovolt medium-voltage line.
Driver perseveres in the tractor
However, the man reacted calmly, according to the police: He had the presence of mind in the tractor and did not touch anything metallic, so that current and voltage were discharged through the housing into the ground.
The driver's cab of a tractor looks like the body of a car: the electrical charge is discharged when a lightning strike, for example.
That is probably why the tractor driver was not injured.
The 30-year-old only left the tractor when a technician from the electricity supplier had switched off the entire medium-voltage line, it is said.
There were burn marks on the tractor and a tire had burst.
According to the police, there was damage of several thousand euros.
It is not known how many people were affected by the power outage.
ptz/dpa