PANHANDLE, Texas, June 28 (UPI) — One railroad worker was injured and three are missing after two freight trains collided head-on Tuesday morning near Amarillo, Texas, causing a massive fire.
One person has been taken to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, about 30 miles from the city of Panhandle, where the crash occurred, NewsChannel 10 reported.
Two Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway trains collided at 8:40 a.m., Joe Faust, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, told the Amarillo Globes-News. He said four employees were aboard the trains.
Faust said one man jumped before the trains collided and is being treated at a hospital with undisclosed injuries.
The speed limit in that area is 70 mph and Faust says it’s not clear how fast the trains were traveling.
No information has been released to explain why two trains were on the same track going in opposite directions.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway says the NTSB has opened an investigation.
The east side of the city was evacuated as the wind shifted and black smoke was moving into residential areas.
Witness Angel Waltz told the Amarillo Globe-News she was on the porch at County Sunset RV Park when she heard screeching sounds and saw the two trains collide. She said then there were small explosions, which shook the ground, and a huge ball of fire.
“It sounded like lightning struck the back of my house, and then a clink-clink-clink sound,” she said.Another resident, Sara Glasscock, said she saw train cars “crumpled” on either side of the crashed engines.
Carson County staged rescue efforts at the the Carson County AG barn.
The Texas A&M Fire Service helped supply firefighting suppression foam.
