Tractor runs over, kills woman on California beach

A woman lying on a Southern California beach was crushed to death by a tractor that was helping in a harbor dredging project, police said.

The woman may have been asleep when the Caterpillar tractor ran over her at about 10 a.m. near a jetty at Oceanside Harbor, north of San Diego, police said.

The woman, who may have been homeless, was fully clothed rather than being in a swimsuit and didn’t have any identification, police spokesman Tom Bussey said.

The tractor was being used to move pipes, police said.

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The tractor driver felt a bump and at first thought he had hit a dip but then turned around and saw the woman in the sand, Bussey said.

Authorities say the woman may have been sleeping.

The accident remains under investigation.

Manson Construction Co., which was doing the dredging, was cooperating with police, President John Holmes said in a statement.

“All of us are devastated,” he said of the accident.