Amtrak Train Collides with SUV, Killing Six

Christina Cole

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A woman and her five children were killed, Tuesday, in a railroad accident when her SUV collided with an Amtrak train.

None of the passengers or crew members aboard the train received any injuries, a spokeswoman for Amtrak said.

The driver of a Chevrolet Tracker sopped on the tracks prior to the railroad crossing arms came down, just before 2 p.m. She tried to back up and then pull forward to escape the train that was quickly approaching.

When the driver attempted to back up, she hit the railroad arm and she decided at the last minute to try and get across the tracks, and she did not make it," Chief of the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District said.

One of the SUV passengers was ejected from the vehicle. The other passengers were inside the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. The car was dragged almost a mile down the track after the crash, with the vehicle wrapped around the front of the train.

The SUV was driven by a female with five young passengers, said California Highway Patrol. The other passengers included two young boys in car seats, another boy between 6 and 8-years of age and two teenage girls.

Officials are interviewing witnesses to piece together the sequence of events leading up to the deadly collision.