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Train hits car in US; 5 thought to be teens die
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-10 09:07

CANTON TOWNSHIP, Michigan: An Amtrak passenger train carrying about 170 people struck a car that had skirted a gate at a road crossing near Detroit on Thursday, killing all five people in the sedan, authorities said. The victims were believed to be teens.

The crossing has a gate and flashing lights that apparently were working when the car approached, said Sgt Mark Gajeski, a police spokesman. Based on witness accounts, "it looks like they probably did go around the arm. They went around the gate," Gajeski said.

The crash occurred around 12:30 pm about 32 km west of Detroit, police Sgt Craig Wilsher said. He said the vehicle was heading north when it crossed the train tracks and was struck. The train typically travels about 108 kph at the site of the crash, Gajeski said.

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The car was broadsided and pushed down the tracks. It crumpled underneath the front of the train and ended up right-side up, its roof and front crushed.

No one aboard the train was injured, an Amtrak spokesman said. Passengers were being bused to Ann Arbor to catch a later train to Chicago.

The victims were believed to be four males, ages 17 and 18, and a 14-year-old female, Gajeski said, based on who was supposed to be in the car at the time, according to its registered owner.

The bodies remained in the black Ford more than six hours after the crash while the investigation was ongoing, Gajeski said.

Last year, 119 people died nationwide in Amtrak accidents, usually when trains struck vehicles or pedestrians at railroad crossings, according to figures from the Federal Railroad Administration. Eleven people died in train accidents of all types in Michigan in 2008, according to Federal Railroad Administration data.

The National Transportation Safety Board hasn't yet decided whether to investigate the crash, spokesman Keith Holloway said.