Posted on 05/28/2008 2:19:47 PM PDT by Fractal Trader
LEBANON, Maine—Authorities say two teenage girls apparently sunbathing on a railroad trestle were struck and seriously injured by a freight train in Lebanon, Maine, on the New Hampshire border. more stories like this
Police Chief Mark McGowan in Milton, N.H., says the engineer sounded the horn and tried to stop but the train struck the 13- and 14-year-old girls late Wednesday morning. McGowan tells Foster's Daily Democrat the girls were sunning themselves on the tracks and may have fallen asleep.
Lebanon Fire Chief Skip Wood says both girls suffered amuptation injuries. The newspaper says one of the girls lost a leg and the other will likely lose a foot.
Wood says both girls were from the town of Lebanon. He says they were taken by medical helicopters to the Maine Medical Center in Portland.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I guess it's better to be alive, but amputation injuries seem pretty gruesome.
how stupid was this
I was just thinking today as I drove over a railroad crossing how dangerous trains can be and how stupid people are who go through a crossing when the lights are flashing.
This happened late this morning? Is school already out in Lebanon or are these girls homeschooled?
Regardless, I’m praying for these girls. They must have been terrified!
It is all about Ipods and kids detaching themselves from interaction with people. I saw kids the other day walking in the mall and all of them had on earbuds and were texting each other all the while 1 foot from each other.
How can you not feel the vibration of an oncoming train, just stupid.
Well....you will all say this is crazy, but some nut running from the police here in Ohio ran into the side of a running train and one millions from the Railroad company.
I couldn’t make that up if I tried.
Did you mean “won millions”, as in a lawsuit?
The girls were lying on beach towels on the trestle over Three Mill Pond when the train rounded a corner and began braking and blasting its horn shortly before 11 a.m., said Lt. Gary Fecteau of the York County Sheriff’s Department.
The conductor and engineer say they never saw the girls move, but their injuries suggest they tried to scramble away at the last moment, Fecteau said.
Destiny Phaneuf, 13, of Lebanon, lost her leg just below the knee; Rachel Brown 14, also of Lebanon, lost a foot, Fecteau said. Both were airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
The girls were cutting class and enjoying the sunny weather when the freight train came upon them, Fecteau said. There’s no indication the girls were impaired by alcohol or drugs, or that their hearing was impaired by headphones, he said.
Phaneuf was unconscious when authorities arrived; Brown told police that the pair had fallen asleep while sunbathing, he said.
Both girls, aged 15 and 14, were airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland. They are both in serious condition, with one having life-threatening injuries, Lebanon Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole said.
The train amputated one girl’s leg at the knee and the other girl’s foot, Cole said. A search continues for the lost limbs.
One of the girls also had a “pretty serious” head injury, Cole said.
Yes.
I guess I’d rather pray for them. I guess it’s just my soft spot for children, and the general knowledge that they can make bad decisions, that makes me less likely to condemn them for their inherently risky nature...
I think that many of us have a "stupid person at a railroad crossing" story. My most recent was about 4 years ago. I parked my car, grabbed my camera, and was going to take a photograph of an approaching train at a local crossing. The gates were starting to drop when some young lady, blabbing on the cell phone, went right through past the flashing red light and dropping gate and stopped right on one of the two sets of tracks. I ran over to her car and told her to back up because a train was coming. Of course, by this time, the train was close and the gate was fully down.
So what did she do - she put the car in reverse, all the while blabbing on the phone and backed right into the gate. Fortunately for her, the train was on the other track (otherwise, I'd have run the other way and not tried to warn her). The engineer gazed out his window, but didn't seem surprised. I suppose these guys see this sort of thing on a daily basis.
Worst thing about it was that I never got my picture.
Stupid enough that you would suspect alcohol consumption.
Lost a high school acquaintance back around 1975 or so - he and a friend of mine were hopping trains, and he lost his footing and fell between the cars. My friend had to witness the poor guy getting basically sliced in half.
That's crazy. Another really stupid thing to do is to stop a car over railroad tracks. If there isn't enough room to put your car completely across the tracks, stop in front of the stop line in front of the tracks.
Darwin Award candidates.
Im also thinking suicide pack. Its awfully cold up in Maine this time of year for sunbathing in the morning.
That’s my suspicion.
It was in the 50’s with a 12 mph wind - it was sunny and maybe they were on the lee side but sounds suspicious.
What do you carry in your suicide pack?
Train vs. flesh is damned uneven, which I have the pictures to prove.
That is not what I meant, but as tragic as this is placing oneself in this situation is your fault. 13/14 year olds should know better. Culpability lies with the kids but I am sure the RR will have to pay multi-millions out in in a lawsuit.
I do not know for sure that they had Ipod but I see so much of this I think I can safely conclude that is what happened. You just don’t hear or feel a train coming. I have seen deaf persons sense a train or heavy truck coming their way.
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