Children and adults visiting an apple orchard in Wisconsin were injured Wednesday when a wagon being towed by a tractor overturned. Three people suffered life-threatening injuries.

The wagon transporting the victims was going downhill on a private road at Bushel and a Peck Apple Orchard in Chippewa Falls when it began to move erratically. The driver tried to reassert control of the vehicle and stop it when it overturned, Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes said in a Facebook post.

Besides the three with life-threatening injuries, five were hurt seriously, Sheriff Hakes said.

There were about 25 victims in total, according to The Associated Press.

A total of 22 people were taken to the hospital via ambulance, with another person taken by helicopter and the rest via personal vehicles, Sheriff Hakes told USA Today. 

The field trip was for kindergarten classes at St. Mark Lutheran School in Eau Claire.

“Our teachers, aides and chaperones jumped in immediately to support the children and adults that were injured. … We are so thankful for the blessings God provides us through his representatives, including the local emergency responders … We continue to pray for all of the families that were affected and ask God, according to his will, to bring them healing,” the school’s principal, Peter Micheel, posted on Facebook Thursday.

Bushel and a Peck Apple Orchard has not yet responded to a request for comment.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.