Two people were killed Thursday in a car/train collision in Little River County, and another man's leg was severed early Friday when he was run over by a train in Crawford County.
According to the Arkansas State Police, Bobby Burris, 37, of Ogden and an unidentified child were killed when the 2007 Hyundai in which they were riding was struck by a Kansas City Southern Railroad train at 5:20 p.m. Thursday.
The driver of the Hyundai, Linda Hobbs, 66, of Ogden, suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to St. Michael Health System in Texarkana, Texas, according to the Little River County sheriff's office.
The state police accident summary said the vehicle was traveling east on Pine Street in Ogden near the intersection with U.S. 71 when it was struck by the northbound train, which was running parallel to the highway.
The summary said it was raining and the road was wet at the time of the accident.
Officials praised the quick response Friday by Arkansas and Missouri and Union Pacific railroad conductors who they said saved the life of a 32-year-old man whose left leg was severed below the knee when he crawled under an Arkansas and Missouri Railroad train about 2:30 a.m. in Van Buren.
One Union Pacific conductor, who was a former police officer and military combat medic, applied a tourniquet to the man's leg until medical personnel arrived.
"We are proud our employees were able to use their skills from all different kinds of backgrounds," Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Jeff DeGraff said.
The injured man, whose name was not released, was recovering at Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith.
Arkansas and Missouri Railroad Police Chief Ron Sparks said the man was trespassing on railroad property near South Fourth Street and crawled under an Arkansas and Missouri train car near the east end of the Union Pacific Railroad yard in south Van Buren.
He said the 30-car train began "shoving," or pushing cars backward, eastward as the man crawled under the train trying to cross the track about halfway down the line of cars. The train ran over his left leg, unseen by the train crew, and he rolled onto the space between the two sets of tracks.
At the same time, a Union Pacific train was westbound on the other set of tracks approaching the railroad yard, Sparks said. The crew on that train spotted the injured man who was screaming for help.
The crew in the Union Pacific train alerted the crew in the Arkansas and Missouri train to the injured man. Both trains stopped, and crews from both trains ran to help the injured man and called for medical help, Sparks said.
Sparks said he visited with the man's family Friday. He said they told him the man had had an argument with his girlfriend earlier that night and had walked out to cool off. He was on his way back to her home when he decided to take a shortcut across the Union Pacific tracks.
"People cannot take shortcuts and walk on railroad property, because this is what happens," Sparks said.
He said the railroads in Van Buren have had trouble with schoolchildren walking on the railroad tracks. He said walking on tracks is illegal and that signs against trespassing are posted.
State Desk on 01/23/2016