2 Adults, 1 Child Dead After Train Strikes Vehicle in Chicago

Two adults and a child were killed after their vehicle was hit by a Metra train struck on Sunday in Chicago.

A train heading north into the city struck the vehicle just after 5 p.m. on the city’s Far South Side and pushed it a half-mile before it came to a complete stop, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The force of the impact caused the train’s front car to partially derail and the vehicle caught fire.

Two adults and one child riding in the vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene, fire officials said. A 43-year-old man, also in the vehicle, was transported to a hospital in good to fair condition. The child killed has been identified as 5-year-old girl named Essence Ransberry.

Forty-one passengers were on board the train at the time of the crash. Three passengers suffered minor injuries. Two were taken to a nearby hospital, while a third declined medical treatment.

“It’s heart-rendering, gut-crunching. It’s the worst thing I’ve seen,” said Metra spokeswoman Michael Gillis. “I’ve been doing this job for 12 years and this is the worst thing I’ve seen.”

“There’s no indication the gates were malfunctioning,” Gillis told reporters at a news conference Monday. “But I don’t know, I can’t say at this point what happened at the intersection.”

Metra officials were planning to view footage captured by a camera onboard the train with the hope of learning what led up to the collision.

This was the second fatal train accident over the weekend. Another 5-year-old girl was among three victims killed when a minivan was hit by a freight train in East Chicago, Indiana on Saturday.