Tractor Driver Drowns After Rollover Into Irrigation Canal Near Mattawa

The Grant County Sheriff's Office says the 49-year-old operator was not able to get out.

  Tractor Rolls into Irrigation Canal, Operator Drowned

Around 2:20 PM Friday, September 4th. a Mattawa man was operating a large tractor near a main feeder irrigation canal in the 23000 block of Road K-Southwest, the location was about 8 miles east of Mattawa.

According to the investigative reports, the operator got too close to the edge of the canal, and some of the embankment gave away from the weight of the machine.

   The Tractor Flipped Into the Water, Pinning the Driver

After the tractor rolled into the water, the driver, identified as Ricardo Santos Estrada, was apparently trapped underneath and could not escape, and drowned. GCSO Investigators didn't say if he was working alone, or if other workers were there.

An autopsy is planned this week with the Coroner, his friends and relatives were notified.