Two Die and One Missing in Train Collision
A freight train rammed head-on into another freight train and burst into flames Thursday, killing two crew members and leaving a third missing, authorities said.
Smoke pouring from the damaged Santa Fe Railway locomotives was visible 15 miles away from the accident, which occurred about 25 miles east of Kansas City.
Two bodies were spotted in the twisted, hot metal, and officers searched for the third crew member, Ray County Sheriff Thomas Harmon said.
The fire was extinguished about five hours after the accident, but the wreckage was too hot for the bodies to be recovered.
The trains had been instructed to stop on the same track to allow an Amtrak train to pass on an adjacent track, Santa Fe spokeswoman Susan Metcalf said. The eastbound train stopped, but “for some reason unknown to us, the westbound train did not stop,” she said.
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