MIAMI: Five people were killed on Saturday night after a freight train collided with an SUV at a rail crossing in the Florida state of the United States, police said.
The incident unfolded as the driver of the SUV approached the Plant City crossing, an intersection controlled solely by signage, and proceeded across the tracks without checking for oncoming trains, revealed Sheriff Chad Chronister during a press conference. His assessment was based on video footage and witness accounts.
“The conductor of the train did everything he could to try to slow this train down,” Sheriff Chronister emphasized, explaining that the train operator employed horns and lights to alert the SUV driver to the impending danger.
Upon impact, the SUV was violently propelled and flipped multiple times, eventually coming to rest at a considerable distance from the crossing, the sheriff further described.
Freight Train and SUV Collision in Florida
Tragically, five out of the seven people in the vehicle, including some children, were ejected from the SUV during the collision and succumbed to their injuries.
Emergency responders had to employ the jaws of life to extract the driver and front-seat passenger from the mangled SUV. Both individuals are currently in critical condition and receiving medical care at a nearby hospital, Sheriff Chronister confirmed.
The sheriff disclosed that, at the time of the collision, the train was traveling at approximately 55 mph (88 kph), as he had previously posted on social media.
While authorities are still working on confirming the identities of the victims, Sheriff Chronister expressed his belief that the victims were family members en route to a nearby quinceanera celebration. Quinceanera is a significant Latin American tradition that commemorates a girl’s fifteenth birthday.
