(The following story by Kimberly Curth appeared on the WKRG website on October 6, 2010.)
MOBILE, Alabama – A survivor of the deadliest train accident in Amtrak history returned to the crash site of the Sunset Limited for the first time in 17 years Wednesday.
The last time Siobhan O’Reilly was at Bayou Canot she was inside a train car that was dangling off the trestle. It was just before 3am September 22,1993. The Sunset Limited had just crashed into the Bayou. 47 people died, 163, including O’Reilly, survived.
O’Reilly decided it was time to come back to remember what happened that day and to remember those who were lost, “be grateful for what you’ve got, you know, we all go through hard times, we all go through difficult times, but, I think something like this makes you truly realize how lucky you are just to be alive. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have much money or maybe you don’t have a job right now, but, just be grateful for what you do have,” said Sunset Limited survivor Siobhan O’Reilly.
O’Reilly traveled to Mobile from her home in England to return to the accident site.