Train hits bus, killing 4 passengers on senior center trip

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

A freight train smashed into a charter bus in a coastal Mississippi city on Tuesday, pushing the bus 300 feet down the tracks and leaving at least four people dead, authorities said. Rescuers spent more than an hour removing passengers, cutting through the bus's heavily damaged frame to extract the last two.

The bus could be seen straddling the tracks, with a CSX Transportation locomotive pushed up against its left side. The bus was apparently stopped on the tracks when the 52-car train, pulled by three locomotives, slammed into it, said Biloxi Police Chief John Miller.

"We're not sure why," Miller said. "We don't know if there were mechanical issues or what was taking place."

Miller said passengers on the Echo Transportation bus had come from Austin, Texas, carrying passengers to one of Biloxi's eight casinos. Ameet Patel, senior vice president of regional operations for Penn National Gaming, owner of Hollywood Gulf Coast Casino in Bay St. Louis and Boomtown Biloxi Casino, said the bus was traveling from the Hollywood casino to the Boomtown casino at the time of the crash.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/train-hits-bus-mississippi-unknown-number-dead-injured-45974556

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Other reports indicate that the accident in Biloxi injured 35 other passengers.

[LOL Lib]

1. And Paul Ryan wept because he won't get credit for killing or starving them to death.

[Rollo]

2. In my area, buses are NEVER allowed to stop on train tracks...

They are required to come to a full halt before the tracks, even if the gates are open. Then they are allowed to proceed only if they can clear the tracks without stopping.

Obviously either the law in MS is deficient, or something went seriously wrong with the bus, the driver, or the other vehicles or people in the area.

It is so sad.

[TexasTowelie]

4. One of the articles that I read

said that the tracks were on an embankment and that it had a low clearance so it is possible that the bus got stuck on the tracks.

[GReedDiamond]

3. New Rule: When your bus is stuck on the railroad tracks...

...evacuate the bus.

[dalton99a]

5. A delivery truck was struck at the same crossing in January

http://www.theeagle.com/news/nation/the-latest-witness-says-incline-at-bus-crash-site-a/article_ee6584be-b499-59c4-822f-1ad880a30a92.html

At least one witness to a bus-train crash in Biloxi says the railroad crossing there poses a problem for vehicles because of a steep climb on each side to get over an embankment.

Mark Robinson tells the Sun Herald of Biloxi on Tuesday that many vehicles have gotten stuck at the crossing.

Federal records show 16 accidents have occurred at the crossing since 1976. Accidents in 1983 and 2003 each involved one fatality. A delivery truck was struck at the same crossing in January, WLOX-TV reports. No one was injured in that crash.

The city announced last month that it and railroad CSX Transportation have agreed to close six of Biloxi's 29 crossings, citing in part vehicles that get stuck on inclines. The Main Street crossing wasn't marked for closure.

[iluvtennis]

6. OMG - how tragic. My prayers are with the families and friends.