Four people were killed and 17 other injured when a train collided into a flatbed truck carrying wounded veterans and their wives to a parade in Midland, Texas.
At least 24 veterans and their wives were on board the Show of Support parade float en route to an annual event at the Horseshoe. City of Midland spokesman Ryan Stout said the fatal accident happened at a Union Pacific railroad crossing at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. 10 of the injured are in critical condition and the other seven are stable.
Veterans from across the U.S. were evenly divided on two open trailers en route to the Midland County Horseshoe Arena where thousands were expected to attend a banquet in their honor in what has become an annual tradition in West Texas, the Wall Street Journal reported. As the first truck crossed the tracks, the locomotive was honking and the people on board of the second trailer were jumping off the parade float before the train rammed into it at around 4:40 p.m.
"Our preliminary finding is that the [crossing's] lights and gates were working and that the train crew sounded the locomotive horn," Tom Lange, a spokesman for the railroad told the WSJ. The train was heading to Shreveport, LA from Arcade, Texas at about 55 miles per hour when it smashed the parade trailer.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, Sonny Cleere, an organizer of the Hunt for Heroes event in San Angelo, Texas, the parade was a kick-off to the event which would have included the banquet and a hunting expedition. The participants of the parade included multiple-amputees and burn victims. The National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating the accident.
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