Thursday, March 26, 2015

1 CHILD DEAD WHEN TRAIN HITS CAR, INJURES 3 MORE IN ELLISTON, VIRGINIA






MARCH 25, 2015

ELLISTON, VIRGINIA (WSLS 10)


A child who was hurt in an accident involving a train Wednesday night has died, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.

The child was in a car driven by his father that was hit by a train around 6 p.m. in the Elliston area.

Three other people were hurt.

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A collision involving a train and a car injured a father and three children Wednesday evening. 

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said it happened just before 6:00 p.m. on Reese Mountain Road near Lancer Truck Stop. 

The car was occupied by one adult and three children between the ages of four and eight. All three of the children were flown by helicopter to Roanoke Memorial Hospital with serious injuries, along with the driver who was transported by ambulance.

The Sheriff's Office said Reese Mountain Rd. is a non-state maintained road and the crossing was marked with signs, but not with lights or a gate. 

Norfolk Southern had an investigation team on the scene, along with deputies from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.  

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Four people were injured in an accident involving a train and a car Wednesday evening in Montgomery County.

According to deputies, just before 6 p.m., a car was crossing the railroad tracks on Reese Mountain Road in the Elliston area of Montgomery County, near Lancer truck stop, when it was hit by a Norfolk Southern train at a railroad crossing.

Investigators say four people were in the car. Three children between the ages of four and eight were transported by three different helicopters to Roanoke Memorial Hospital with serious injuries. An adult was transported by an ambulance.

Norfolk Southern officials say the train was traveling from Bluefield to Roanoke with 109 freight cars. Investigators say the front end of the train may have stopped up to three quarters of a mile away.

Investigators say it seems like the car tried to cross the train tracks as the train was coming. Deputies say Reese Mountain Road is a non-state maintained road. They say the crossing is marked with signs, but there are no lights or gate.

WDBJ7 spoke to Allen Waltz, who said he was near the accident when it happened. He said he was standing in front of a truck stop near the train tracks when a truck driver came running across the road pointing to where the incident had taken place. He said the truck driver yelled for him to call 911.

Waltz said he called 911 and then walked closer to the scene. He said once he saw the scene he called 911 again and told dispatchers they needed to hurry up because there were kids involved.

Waltz said he saw the father holding one of the children and screaming. The other two kids were unconscious, according to Waltz.

Howard Boylan is a truck driver. He said he saw the car and train collide.
 “All of a sudden the train came by and the car was coming across and as soon as the car came across they hit,” he said.

Boylan said he only heard the train blow its horn a couple of times
"You're supposed to blow the horn way back here way up here and let someone know you're approaching, but I never heard him my windows were down and everything," Boylan said. "I could have heard that horn, but I didn't hear that horn until, I mean, he had ten seconds."

Boylan said that the driver didn't have enough time to react.
“I honestly think that he didn’t hear it because, you know, he didn’t have but 10 seconds,” he explained.

Boylan said he got out of his truck and called 911 and ran as hard as he could to help.

“The young man was holding his baby and I just began to pray. That’s all I could do was pray because I knew the baby was in bad shape. And then I found out there were two more in the car.”

Boylan said it took about 10 minutes for emergency crews to arrive at the scene.

“It seemed like it took forever,” said Boylan. “All I could do was pray. I just prayed out loud. “I said, ‘Lord please help these young’uns,’” he said.
Source: http://www.wdbj7.com