Train Kills Encinitas Girl

A 16-year-old Encinitas girl was struck and killed Saturday night by an Amtrak train while she and two friends were walking along the railroad tracks about three blocks north of Encinitas Boulevard.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Roy Stamper said that the three teen-agers apparently were unaware that the southbound passenger train was coming, although all trains sound their horns at Leucadia Boulevard, about five blocks north of the accident scene.

Witnesses said that the girl was struck and her body severed by the impact. Her two companions were unhurt, although one was taken to a nearby hospital by paramedics because she appeared in shock, witnesses said.

Gina Georgees, 26, a clerk at the Coast Highway Market on North Highway 101, said a hysterical girl ran into the store shortly before 7 p.m., screaming that her best friend had been hit by the train. Georgees called the 911 emergency number and sheriff’s units arrived within minutes. Train traffic along the Santa Fe line from San Diego to Los Angeles was halted for about two hours while the Encinitas accident scene was cleared.

Sgt. Stamper said that the dead girl lived “just across the street” from where she was killed and that her father came to the scene. A trauma intervention team was called to help the family deal with the tragedy, he said.

The name of the victim was not immediately available.