Three individuals lost their lives after an Amtrak train collided with a pickup truck in western New York, north of Buffalo, according to a report by CNN citing fire officials. The incident occurred in North Tonawanda on Friday night, resulting in the immediate fatalities of all passengers traveling in the truck, as reported by the city’s fire chief. Fortunately, there were no injuries reported among the 21 passengers and crew members aboard the Amtrak train, which was identified as train 281 heading north from New York to Niagara Falls.
The collision took place when the Amtrak train encountered the pickup truck on the track, as confirmed by an Amtrak statement. Tragically, the three passengers were trapped inside the truck upon the arrival of the North Tonawanda fire department shortly before 8 pm ET. First responders from neighboring areas also rushed to the scene to provide assistance, according to an announcement by the department.
CNN reported, citing the Federal Railroad Administration, that incidents at railroad-highway grade crossings are the second-leading cause of rail-related deaths in the US, with over 200 fatalities occurring annually.
In a separate incident earlier that week, a 30-year-old software engineer from Hyderabad lost his life in a road accident in North Carolina, USA. Abbaraju Prudhvi Raj, a native of LB Nagar in Hyderabad, tragically passed away in the accident, which took place on Tuesday night in north Charlotte. The sister of the deceased, Pratyusha, expressed her grief over her brother’s untimely death, revealing that their father had also passed away two years prior. While it is believed that her brother was involved in a hit-and-run accident, the details surrounding the incident remain uncertain.