Posted on 05/08/2007 8:57:44 PM PDT by Arthalion
RIVERBANK - A driver who may have thought she was trapped at a railroad crossing drove onto the tracks and an Amtrak train slammed into her sport-utility vehicle, killing her and five children passengers, authorities and witnesses said. "It appears an entire family was wiped out," California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Killian said.
The crash occurred about 2 p.m. on Claribel Road just west of the old Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant.
Killian said those killed were the driver, two teen-age girls, a boy about 6 and two boys under the age of 3. Their identities were not released.
According to Killian, the woman was heading east on Claribel and, as the train approached, the arm of the crossing guard came down on her windshield. The arm sprang back up as it should.
The driver, Killian said, looked behind to see if she could back up but pulled forward onto the tracks and the collision occurred.
Had she not pulled forward, he said, the train would have missed the SUV.
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(Excerpt) Read more at modbee.com ...
Sad.
When my Mom was a tyke Gramma stalled the car on the tracks with the 3 girls in it one was toddler.
They got out and survived, but it wasnt easy with little kids
It sounds like the poor gal panicked and every bit of common sense left her at the worse possible time.
I can’t imagine what the father is going through. I can’t imagine what all of those on the scene at the time are feeling.
This is just plain sad.
I’m down here in So California. We just had three little ones rear ended and killed on the 5 freeway near Oso. It sounds like she had the gears wrong, meant to backup, went forward instead.
Lord have mercy on their souls and that poor father.
(I am assuming he was not in the car)
No, he was not in the car. Somewhere in Riverbank there is a father who needs our prayers tonight.
Prayers sent.
My wierd story.
Gramma stalled that car out on the tracks decades before I was born. There was chaos and pandemonium in the moment.
Gramma was yelling orders to the older girls and the girls were all screaming too. the toddler was left on her own till the oldest gal pulled her of the tracks.
It happens fast
Now here is the weirdest part. The Father, Grandad, died when Mom was 2 in a gasoline tanker accident.
Im like anal retentive on the road!
Doesn't sound like she had much to begin with. Driving onto a train track while the crossing gate is already coming down? Lots of red flashing lights accompany those descending lights, and at many crossings a loud bell too. It's not like the first evidence that a train is coming is when the gate hits your windshield!
How sad 5 babes and a wife gone in an instant.
Prayers for those left behind greiving.
My Dad was a railroad man. When he taught his children to drive he told us to ALWAYS approach a railroad crossing as if a train was coming.
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