Train crashes into trailer carrying veterans

 

AP Photo: Reporter-Telegram, Tim Fischer. IMAGE: A semi trailer carrying veterans and their spouces in a parade was struck by a train Thursday.

10 min ago By MSN News and wire reports

4 people are dead and 17 people have been transported to a hospital from the accident.

MIDLAND, Texas A freight train slammed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 17 others as the float crossed a West Texas railroad crossing on its way to an honorary banquet, authorities said.

The eastbound train was sounding its horn before it hit the float around 4:40 p.m. in Midland, Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange said. A preliminary investigation indicates the crossing gate and lights were working at the time, Lange said, though he didn't know if the train crew saw the float approaching.

Two people died at the scene of the crash, while two others died at Midland Memorial Hospital, City of Midland spokesman Ryan Stout said. Ten of those injured are in critical condition, while the other seven are in stable condition, he said.

"There is going to be a very thorough investigation," Lange said. "It's obviously a very tragic incident."

The parade was to end at a "Hunt for Heroes" banquet honoring the veterans. The wounded service members were then going to be treated to a deer-hunting trip this weekend. The events have been canceled.

Midland Police Chief Price Robinson said the Union Pacific train struck an open trailer that was carrying veterans and their spouses.

"It's hard to look at. It's a very tragic event, very unfortunate," Robinson said, speaking from the site of the accident.

Lange said Union Pacific is offering help to the community and victims' families, as well as peer-to-peer counseling for the train crew, who did not sustain any injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board also is investigating, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said.

The parade kicked off a weekend of events, including the banquet and a hunting expedition, to honor wounded veterans, Cleere said. Those events have now been canceled.

"It has been a horrible thing," he said. "The people in Midland that were hosting the banquet tonight are in a state of shock."

Many of the 25 West Texas veterans being honored served multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to biographies posted on a website created by event organizers. They were described as having been shot on the battlefield or wounded by improvised explosive devices.

Some described suffering traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their deployments, the online biographies said.

Tracy Scott, a Midland oilfield worker who did not witness the crash but arrived at the scene later, told Reuters the train did not derail, but continued to move roughly half a mile past where the collision occurred before coming to a stop.

Photos posted on the website of The Midland Reporter-Telegram showed a double-decker freight train stopped at the road crossing, with debris scattered around a flatbed trailer and chairs in disarray after tumbling off the parade float. Each chair had the name of a veteran below it.

A second flatbed truck carrying soldiers and spouses cleared the train tracks without being struck, police said.

Some of those aboard the trailer that was hit managed to jump off before the collision, police added.

Authorities did not immediately release names of those injured or killed.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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