Thirteen people aboard an Amtrak train suffered injuries when the locomotive smashed into a trailer lugging a front-end loader. The fiery truck-train collision occurred in Mebane, North Carolina as reported by WCNC.com. Reports stated a lowboy trailer hauling a front-end loader became stuck on the train tracks on Thursday morning. Nearby signs apparently warn truckers of the potential to become stuck on the tracks.
When the truck driver failed to get his truck loose from the tracks, he quickly jumped from the trailer. Just a few moments later, the Charlotte-bound train slammed into the trailer. Consequently, the Amtrak train derailed and caught fire, striking signs and trees before coming to a rest nearly 400 feet away.
According to witness James Beck, “Everybody could see what was going to happen… He was trying to do something to get traffic from being blocked up. Of course when the train came and he heard the gates coming down he tried to gun it and get disconnection, but it wasn’t going to work.”
Passengers aboard the locomotive said that the train accident occurred so abruptly that no one had to time to brace themselves for the impact. Many were thrown from their seats and across the floor and into the aisles. Several passengers broke their noses and incurred soft tissue damage.
Emergency responder crews were got to the train accident scene quickly. While it was not clear how many people were aboard the train at the time, 12 passengers and one crew member were hurt. They were taken to area hospitals, including Alamance Regional Medical Center, Duke University Hospital and University of North Carolina Hospital.