Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 18, 1993 TAG: 9303180194
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
6 DIE IN FIERY AMTRAK-TANKER CRASH
A gasoline tanker trapped in traffic at a railroad crossing was struck by an Amtrak train Wednesday and exploded in a giant fireball that set nine other cars and trucks ablaze. The tanker driver and five others died in their vehicles.Fifteen people waiting at the crossing were injured, and six of the 118 aboard the train were taken to a hospital for observation, officials said.
Witnesses described panic as people stuck in traffic scrambled for their lives after the blast.
"I just saw some people screaming all over the place," said Billy Rodriguez, 25, of Coral Springs.
A Broward County sheriff's deputy in his patrol car at the time pulled the driver out of a burning vehicle behind him, said Sonya Friedman, a Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman. "He tried to rescue another, but couldn't because of the fireball," she said.
The blast left cars and small trucks scorched and scattered as if they had been in a tank battle. The gasoline truck burned for more than two hours after the midafternoon crash at a crossing near Interstate 95.
"The explosion was unbelievable," said witness Tim Dahms. "The sky was just black."
The cars of the train - the Silver Star from New York City - remained upright. The fire-blackened lead locomotive stopped several hundred yards down the track.
Another witness, Barbara Freeman, said the tanker was trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic when the warning lights came on and the gate lowered.
"He couldn't back up, and he couldn't go forward. Then, the crossing gate did come down, but it came down on the cab of his truck."
The truck driver desperately inched forward until the crossing gate broke, Freeman said. Then the train hit the back of the tanker.
The train had been starting to brake and was going about 30 to 35 mph, said Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman Sonya Friedman.
Killed were the tanker driver, three people in a van and two in a car, said a sheriff's spokesman.
Keywords:
FATALITY