Watch CBS News

2 Sisters Rescued From Path Of Oncoming Train

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- A dramatic rescue in Delaware. With seconds to spare, two sisters escape the path of a speeding train.

Mary Bubala has more.

It's happened to more than a dozen others, including a woman rescued by a college student from Baltimore.

With only seconds to spare, a driver and passenger-- sisters from Delaware-- just escape an oncoming train.

The video, captured by a surveillance camera, shows the confused driver making a turn onto the tracks thinking it's the road.

Two sanitation workers happen to drive by and see the car stuck around 4 a.m. Thursday on the University of Delaware campus.

"I don't think she realized the danger she was in," Cliff Fose, one of the sanitation workers, said.

Her car gets stuck, the wheels spin for a few minutes. The passenger gets out, tries to push the car. But the driver doesn't want to leave her vehicle.

"When the things started coming down going, ding, ding, ding. I was like, 'I can't believe this is happening.'"

The two men and the passenger move away, knowing a train is approaching but the driver is still trying to move her car.

"I told her four times and I walked away, and I came back. I said, 'I can't leave her.' So I went back and said, 'Come on, get out of this car.' She stepped one foot out, and about the time she got the second foot out, that train came in like three seconds and wiped the whole car out," Shawn Brown, the other sanitation worker, explained.

The CSX cargo train plowed into her car, pushing it hundreds of yards down the track and leaving it a mangled mess.

This is just the latest in a series of accidents in that very spot.

Two years ago several fraternity members from the University of Delaware, including Alex Crespo from Roland Park, rescued a 60-year-old woman.

"We just kind of stood there, watched for like 10 seconds. Then we were like, 'Alright, this isn't good,'" Crespo said.

Fifteen seconds after getting the woman out, the train barreled into her car.

After Thursday's close call on the tracks, CSX is meeting with Delaware officials to discuss putting up a fence so drivers don't mistakenly turn onto the tracks.

City officials say there have been 15 crashes involving trains and cars at this spot in the past 10 years.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.