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The California Highway Patrol is investigating a deadly car versus train crash near Fresno County where two men were killed after their van collided with an Amtrak train Wednesday morning.
The collision was at the Conejo Avenue train cross, just west of Peach Avenue. CHP said the crash happened around 10:10 am and investigators said the Amtrak train had just left the Fresno station headed for Hanford.
Bill Adams works in an office right next to the train tracks, and he was one of the first witnesses on scene.
Adams said, "We sit here every day and we hear trains come by, so we know the normal sound of something coming through. We heard the arms coming down and the ‘ding ding ding’, and then all of a sudden, you know, that loud sound."
He describes that intense sound, "Like a bomb went off and looked over it was a big cloud of dust and then a group of us ran over we saw the van there and wasn’t sure if was a Suburban or what it was. And it was on fire, so we ran over there with some fire extinguishers, tried to put it out."
CHP Fresno area public information officer Axel Reyes said, "It appears the van had, for unknown reasons, ran through the stop sign at which point the Amtrak collided with the left side of the van."
Reyes said the two men were ejected out of the van, and the van exploded into flames. Investigators are still trying to determine how fast the van was going at the point of impact.
Amtrak said there were 174 passengers and three crew members on board. No one on the train was injured, and Amtrak said there were no damages to the cab.
Adams said, "It was so severe that you knew there were no survivors when we got there."
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