Three people were killed and four others – including a child – were injured when an Amtrak train collided with a car at an intersection without guardrails or signs in Brentwood, California.
Authorities say the car stopped in a long country alley near the intersection of Orwood Road and Bixler Road around 1pm when the Amtrak train hit it.
The car then went off the road and hit another car.
Three women, all over the age of 50, according to The Mercury News.
A child and two men were also hospitalized with serious injuries, and another was seriously injured.
Those who were seriously injured were rushed to John Muir Medical Center after the crash on Sunday afternoon, according to ABC News. One of the adults was taken by air and the child was transported by land, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
All the victims were inside the four-door sedan when it was hit, officials said, and battalion chief Craig Ozen of the East Contra Costa Fire Department told reporters at the scene that none of the 81 passengers or five crew members the train board was injured.
In fact, he said, the train stopped about a quarter of a mile from where the sedan crashed into the SUV.
The investigation into the crash continues.
But East Contra Costa fire officials say they have already been called to the crossing twice last year because there are no guards.
“It’s a bad crossing,” said Steve Obert, a firefighter, noting that trains run at about 80 miles per hour on the tracks.
“Unfortunately, this is just a recipe for disaster.”
Three women were killed and four others – including a child – were injured when an Amtrak train crashed into a car around 1pm in Brentwood, California
Authorities say the car went off the road after the collision and hit another vehicle.
The crash occurred just about 300 feet from fundraising outdoors for a Brentwood resident who died less than a week ago, Mercury News reported.
Firefighters had already been called to the fundraising site to help someone who fainted, and while responding to that call, the Amtrak train crashed into the vehicle.
By the time they arrived, they had seen only the aftermath of the fatal collision.
And Fatima Jimenez, who was present at the fundraiser, said she ran away because she thought her brother’s vehicle had been hit.
She arrived on the rails to find two women dead on the ground, along with a bloodied child, she told Mercury News.
She also said she helped someone else remove the man from the wreckage of the car and noted that he seemed to have avoided serious injury.
“People fainted when they heard what was happening,” Jimenez said. “It was chaotic. There are no words to describe it – I’m still in shock.
Authorities say the train was stopped about a quarter of a mile from where the car hit a jeep.
Meanwhile, Mitch Bloomfield, who owns the Bloomfield Vineyards, where the fundraiser took place on Sunday, said he had asked BNSF Railway countless times to install a signed level crossing at the intersection.
Eventually, he installed his own signs on each side of the rails declaring “TRAINS !!” But, he said, people still don’t stop before they cross.
“I’ve called the BNSF countless times to get them to a crossroads there,” Bloomfield told Mercury News, adding: “They make a lot of money, but they don’t like to spend it.
“I hope this is a more important thing now.”
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