Tragedy of four dead occurred in Mississippi after a freight train clashed into a charter bus in a coastal Mississippi city on Tuesday, leaving the bus 300 feet down the tracks.
As reported by Fox News, Biloxi Police Chief John Miller described the crash as a "terrible, chaotic scene" at a press conference, adding that 35 people have been hospitalized. A total of 46 passengers were on the bus when the crash happened, according to Miller.
Rescuers spent more than an hour rescuing passengers by cutting through the bus's heavily damaged frame to extract the last two passengers.
Apparently, the CSX freight train was traveling east when the clash with the charter bus that was heading north around 2:15 p.m. local time and pushed it nearly 300 feet down the tracks, said Miller. The single track area where the accident occurred is the CSX mainline along the Gulf Coast, passing through densely populated areas of southern Mississippi.
Interestingly, similar troubles were reported earlier when a separate CSX train slammed a Pepsi delivery truck that got stuck on the tracks two months ago. Low clearance sign located near the intersection to warn drivers were mentioned to be one of the factors leading to this tragedy.
As of now, authorities are still unsure the actual reason that caused the crash. In another report by TIME magazine, the bus was delivering a trip full of people organized by a Texas senior center. A flier for the tour claims some passengers boarded in Austin, Texas, and the rest boarded about 30 miles east in Bastrop, Texas on Sunday.
In the same report, a woman who lives about a block from the scene when the train crashed into the bus says she heard a "loud boom" and figured out immediately what had happened.
"As this is an ongoing law enforcement matter, we are withholding any further comment and are referring all calls to the Biloxi Police Department, with whom we are cooperating fully with their investigation." Ameet Patel, Senior Vice President of Regional Operations for Penn National Gaming, owner of Hollywood Gulf Coast Casino and Boomtown Biloxi Casino, said in a statement.
