70-year-old woman, two kids killed when train slams into car
NEW IBERIA, La. -- A 70-year-old driver and her two 12-year-old passengers died when a passenger train hit their car on the tracks in Louisiana, state police said Wednesday.
The other three people in the car -- a man and two 12-year-old boys -- were critically injured, police said, but none of the 119 passengers on the train was hurt in the crash Tuesday evening.
Investigators don't know whether Phyllis Leblanc drove around a crossing gate or whether her 2006 Ford Taurus got stuck after the gate went down, Master Trooper Brooks David said in an email.
But witnesses state that the crossing bars were working at the time of the crash, CBS affiliate KSLA reports.
He said the crash killed Leblanc, Jayla Daigle and Trinity Schmidt, and it injured Steve Leblanc, 49, and the boys, whose names weren't released. David said he did not know whether the Leblancs were related or where the group was going.
All six in the car were from New Iberia, where the crash occurred about 6 p.m. The city of 30,700 is about 115 miles west of New Orleans.
The Sunset Limited was en route from Los Angeles to New Orleans, Amtrak spokesman Mike Tolbert said, and it resumed its trip about 8:45 p.m.