Early this morning in Rockview, Missouri, a Union Pacific train hauling auto parts t-boned another freight train at an intersection, derailing the Union Pacific train and collapsing a highway overpass in the second major train derailment this week.
There were no cars on the highway when it collapsed, but two cars did drive onto the overpass in the dark, not seeing that the road had given out. Amazingly, the passengers suffered only minor injuries. The overpass collapsed when the derailed train destroyed its support beams.
The conductor and locomotive engineer of the Union Pacific train were pulled from the wreckage of the train, and also received only minor injuries.
"I heard the crash and stepped outside, and my son said the overpass was down," said Wayne Woods, who lives near the crash. "Then we heard car's tires squealing like it was coming to a stop and a crash, and a horn continuously blowing. At that time, we were on the phone with 911 and trying to get out and block the traffic so no one else would go down into it."
"When I got over there the train was on its side," said Woods. "They got the guys out and lifted them off the train, and got them off the overpass. One was kind of bloody; the other one looked like he was pretty shook up."
A fire broke out shortly after the crash, but it was quickly extinguished. All but one of the seven people injured have been released from the hospital, with the one remaining reportedly in good condition.
[Photos courtesy of KFVS]