Collision Between Train And Car Transporter Sends Vehicles Flying

A piece of railway track in Love County, Oklahoma was left littered with mangled vehicles last Friday, but thankfully, all were unoccupied when they got into that horrifying state. Earlier, they were on board a car transporter that had become beached on the tracks at a crossing on Addington Bend Road, leaving it right in the path of Amtrak train 822.

The train was unable to stop before reaching the transporter, hitting it with enough force to snap the trailer in half and send its load of vehicles flying through the air. In the footage, one van can be seen launching down the tracks. Another was pushed down the track by the locomotive.

The driver of the lorry was uninjured, while five train passengers had to be transferred to nearby hospitals with “non-critical injuries,” the Love County Fire Department said. The locomotive partially derailed, damaging the rail bed, so it wasn’t going anywhere.

See also: Truck Carrying Wind Turbine Blade Wiped Out After Getting Stuck On Train Crossing

Local school busses and Amtrak chartered vehicles ferried stranded passengers to hotels and other nearby destinations. Some were able to take the same train back to Fort Worth, Texas after the derailed locomotive was uncoupled.

First responders from various departments were on the scene for five and a half hours. Local and state authorities are said to be investigating the cause of the crash.

Love County Sheriff Marty Grisham told ABC News: “The tracks are built up a little bit higher [at the crossing]…He had a lot of cars on the trailer. When he tried to cross over the tracks, the trailer high-centred on the tracks, causing him to be stuck and not able to move his tractor-trailer rig any further off the track.”