Five people were killed including children when a freight train crashed into an SUV trying to cross railroad tracks in Plant City, Florida.
The tragedy unfolded at around 6:45 p.m. when the Cadillac Escalade carrying seven people rolled onto the crossing which is only marked by a stop sign without crossing arms.
The Cadillac slowly crawled across the train tracks, surveillance footage showed, moments before a mile-long train traveling 55 miles per hour crossed its path.
“The word devastating doesn’t begin to describe the events and tragedy that unfolded,” said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister.
“As you could imagine the carnage that’s created when these two collide.”
The train conductor blared the convoy’s horns and flashed lights as he attempted to slow down but it was too late.
“The SUV – we can see from the video – begins to catapult and flip violently several times before it’s landed a distance from this crossing.”
The victims were two males and three females sitting in the backseat of the vehicle. Among them, are children aged 10, 14, and an “adult child.”
The two other occupants of the car, two adult men, were in the driver and the front passenger seat. They were left trapped, critically wounded inside the wreck that looked “like a soft drink can that’s been smashed.”
“Maybe an entire family lost their life here tonight. We are all visibly shaken we are all rattled at our core tonight after witnessing what happened here tonight,” Chronister said.
