(The Associated Press circulated the following on March 24, 2011.)
LONGVIEW, Wash. — A Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad spokesman says a freight train has struck a shuttle van carrying BNSF crew members in Washington state, killing three people and seriously injuring a fourth.
Spokesman Gus Melonas says the collision happened late Wednesday afternoon at a private rail crossing in the Longview, Wash., area, as the van was leaving a BNSF railyard to take the crew members to Vancouver.
Killed were the van driver and two crew members. Melonas says a fourth person was hospitalized.
The loaded grain train was bound from Crookston, Minn., to Seattle. It did not derail.