Two men whose names were not released were killed when a train struck both of them Friday evening at the intersection of 18th Street and North Main Street in Kannapolis, NC. Apparently, the other man was trying to pull the other out of the rail track when they were hit by the train. An Amtrak spokeswoman said the train left Charlotte on its way to Raleigh with 100 passengers on board. Fortunately, none of the passengers were injured. The train continued onto Raleigh after a two hour delay.
According to investigators, the two men were walking home from work when the train struck them. Both of the men were working at the Kannapolis Britthaven Nursing Home. The entire nursing staff as well as the residents was deeply saddened by the accident and told WBTV that facility counselling support will be available for the residents, staff and for the bereaved family. Police investigation of the accident is still ongoing.
A graph of Railroad Accident Statistics by state presented by statemaster.com shows that Wyoming has the highest railroad accident statistics in 51 states, while North Carolina was number 26 in the rank. However, in another accident statistics graph presented by the same website, it also shows that the fatality rate is high as well as the injury statistics. Clearly, most of railroad accidents end up in serious injuries and fatalities.
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