2 Adults and 5-Year-Old Child Die After Train Strikes Their Vehicle in Chicago

An inbound Rock Island Metra train was “expressing” past West 107th Street in the Beverly neighborhood around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday when it struck an SUV and dragged it about four blocks, Metra spokesperson Michael Gillis said at apress conference.

Three people riding in the car were killed, while the train’s engineer suffered a minor leg injury, and its conductor a back injury. Three passengers also suffered minor injuries, and two were hospitalized while one declined treatment, Gillis said.

“It’s heart-rendering. It’s gut-wrenching,” he said. “It’s the worst thing I’ve seen. I’ve been doing this job for 12 years, this is the worst scene I’ve seen.”

The Cook County Medical Examiner identified one of the three victims as 5-year-old Essence Ransberry,WLSreported.

Passenger Greg Smalls told the outlet that he heard a “thump” around 107th Street, and though the motorman made multiple attempts to stop the train, was unable to.

“He tried his best. He was blowing his horn, blowing his horn, blowing his horn,” Smalls said. “Unfortunately, [he] didn’t have enough time.”

Jamie Smith, who was also riding on the train, toldWGNthat there was a loud screeching noise, and the lights went off, while passenger Nisa Clarke said the train “jumped forward,” and there was a lot of smoke.

“The car went around and tried to beat the train,” witness Deja Gardner told WLS. “The car went up in flames.”

Passenger Matt Townsend told theChicago Sun-Timesthat the experience was “a horrible adventure.”

“Everybody was anxious, tensions were running high, and we were wanting to get off faster than the line was allowing us to,” he said. “The car was unrecognizable as a car, it was just a clumped up piece of metal… and I started seeing flames come from the car, and that was scary. But most importantly, I knew that people had died.”

According toWMAQ, the train left Joliet at 4:25 p.m., and was set to arrive at Chicago’s LaSalle Street station at 5:25 p.m.

source: people.com