Three people killed, more injured after Amtrak train slams into car, CA officials say

Three people were killed and several others were injured in a crash between a car and an Amtrak passenger train in California officials told news outlets.

The crash occurred during the afternoon on June 26, KRON 4 reported. The train crashed into the four-door sedan in an area that did not have a train signal or guardrails, according to The New York Times.

Amtrak and the BNSF Railway did not immediately respond to requests for comment from McClatchy News.

But an Amtrak spokesperson told The New York Times that the company is “working with local law enforcement and BNSF, the track owner, to investigate the incident.”

The crash took place as the car “pulled into a long rural dirt driveway” at around 1 p.m., the East Bay Times reported. The area was a “private crossing with no railroad crossing adjacent to it,” a BNSF Railway spokesperson told the outlet.

Three women died, and at least four other people, including a child, were injured, Battalion Chief Craig Auzenne of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District told the outlet.

The three who died were pronounced dead at the scene, and two of the injured adults were driven to a hospital, KRON 4 reported. The injured child was airlifted to a local hospital, according to the outlet.

The women who died were 51, 72 and 41 years old, KTVU reported.

The train was carrying 85 passengers at the time of the crash, the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District told McClatchy News in an email. No one inside the train was injured, The New York Times reported.

Steve Aubert, a fire marshal with the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, told the outlet that the area in which the crash took place is “highly potentially dangerous,” and that emergency services respond to accidents involving trains and cars in the area at least one or two times a year.

The crash unfolded as an outdoor fundraiser for a Brentwood resident who recently died took place 300 feet away, the East Bay Times reported. Firefighters were already at the fundraiser to help someone who had fainted, and several other attendees fainted upon hearing about the crash, the outlet reported.

This story was originally published June 27, 2022 at 12:10 PM.