Car and train collide, 4 dead

A car and train collided Monday night in Hardeeville, leaving four people dead. Around 9 p.m. Monday the Hardeeville Fire Department received a call to the railroad intersection of Highway 46 and U.S. 17. “There was an accident there involving an Amtrak passenger train and a vehicle which had tried to go around the mass arms of the train crossing and beat the train, and it was not able to do so,” says Hardeeville Interim City Manager Ted Felder.
Felder says the car was wedged in the front of the train after being pushed about a mile down the track.
“Approximately two hours later they were able to separate the vehicle from the train. They discovered there were 22 passengers and five Amtrak employees that were on the train as well, none of them were hurt. But, it ended up being four fatalities, three adults and one 12-year-old child all of who were from Hardeeville,” says Felder.
The names of the four dead have not been released. The investigation continues.
The passengers on the train were taken to the Savannah Amtrak Station via school bus.
Felder says from the evidence they have gathered, Hardeeville has not seen a train wreck in the city for 30 years. The Hardeeville Fire Department, Hardeeville Police Department, Jasper County EMS, Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, and the South Carolina Highway Patrol assisted in the accident.