The owner of a 1960s-vintage aerial ladder truck and a state trooper were electrocuted while they were changing tires on the vehicle along a busy road.

The incident happened when the owner was driving the aerial back to Canada after participating in an antique apparatus display in Syracuse, N.Y. On the way, two of the tires suffered flats, and the driver pulled off the road. A state trooper stopped to assist.

In order to shift weight off the side of the apparatus with the flat tires, the owner partially raised and rotated the metal aerial ladder to the opposite side as a counterweight. At some point during the operation, the ladder contacted an overhead power line, and the two victims were electrocuted.

No other details were available.