High-speed passenger train collides with firetruck in Florida, injuring 15 people
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Firetruck drove around rail crossing arms after waiting for earlier train to pass, according to person briefed on details. Three firefighters and a dozen passengers were injured in Florida on Saturday after a firetruck drove around rail crossing arms and into the path of a high-speed passenger train after having waited for a previous train to pass, according to a person briefed on what happened.
The crash happened at 10.45am in crowded downtown Delray Beach, multiple news outlets reported. In the aftermath, the Brightline train was stopped on the tracks, its front destroyed, about a block away from the Delray Beach fire rescue truck. Its ladder was ripped off and landed in the grass several yards away, the Sun Sentinel reported.
The Delray Beach fire rescue said in a social media post that three Delray Beach firefighters were in stable condition at a hospital. Palm Beach county fire rescue took 12 people from the train to the hospital with minor injuries. The person familiar with the details of the crash, who was not authorized to disclose what had happened because of the ongoing investigation and who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the firetruck had stopped at the crossing and waited for a freight train to go by before maneuvering around the lowered crossing arms.
Emmanuel Amaral rushed to the scene on his golf cart after hearing a loud crash and screeching train brakes from where he was having breakfast a couple of blocks away. He saw firefighters climbing out of the window of their damaged truck and pulling injured colleagues away from the tracks. One of their helmets came to rest several hundred feet away from the crash.