Midland Remembers Victims of Train Crash
By: Michaela MacDonald
Updated: November 19, 2012
Hundreds gathered in Midland Saturday night for a vigil to honor the four veterans killed and sixteen injured in a train crash Thursday afternoon.
"My heart is aching for these families," said Midland Pastor Jana Job.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the collision, but they announced Saturday that all railroad warning equipment was working prior to the crash.
"At 20 seconds out and that is actually an established federal minimum the bells and lights on the mast activated," said a spokesman from NTSB.
Witness Marilyn Nesesta says she saw the safety arms come down, but it was too late.
"They were waiting for the flatbed to go on over, and the arms of the train track came down and it looked like it hit one of the soldiers maybe the wife and it sprang back up and the lights were going and it was seconds later when the train hit the back of the truck," said Nesesta.
Nesesta says she was just north of the crash when it happened. She says she doesn't think anyone saw the train coming.
"I wasn't even aware there was a train coming and we were right there, until I saw the arms and the lights. It was just, I mean, it seemed like just a few seconds before the train was there," said Nesesta.
