Miami:
Five people were killed Saturday evening after a freight train collided with an SUV at a railroad crossing in the US state of Florida, police said.
The SUV driver approached the Plant City intersection, which is controlled only by signage, and continued without looking in either direction, Sheriff Chad Chronister told a news conference, citing video footage and witness statements.
“The conductor of the train did everything he could to slow this train down,” using horns and lights to alert the engineer, he said.
The car catapulted and spun several times before landing some distance from the intersection, Chronister said.
Five of the seven passengers, some of whom were children, were thrown from the car and died.
Rescuers used the jaws of life to pull out the driver and front passenger, who are in critical condition in the hospital, Chronister said.
The train was traveling at a speed of approximately 88 km/h at the time of the collision, Chronister previously wrote on social media.
The sheriff said police were still trying to identify the victims but believed they were a family heading to a nearby quinceanera party, a Latin American celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday.
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