Canadian Trucker Pinned in Crash after Sneezing Fit

GANDER, N.L. – A truck driver says sneezing is to blame after he lost control of his rig and rolled into a ditch in central Newfoundland.

The RCMP says the 58-year-old man from Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L., had just started his shift Monday night when the accident happened on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Staff Sgt. Randy Freeborn says the rig left the road, hit the shoulder and overturned in a ditch west of Gander.

Freeborn says the driver was thrown from the truck and pinned underneath the tractor-trailer.

Gander firefighters and two nurses at the scene helped rescue the man, who suffered cuts and bruises.

Freeborn says the driver told investigators that as he was approaching a bend in the road, he had a series of sneezes that caused him to lose control.