(The following article by Christine Harvey was posted on the Northwest Indiana Times website on June 12.)
ST. JOHN, Ind. — Emergency workers needed the Jaws of Life on Wednesday to pry two injured CSX employees from the wreckage of a train derailment behind Schilling Brothers Lumber. A third victim managed to crawl from the cab of a mangled locomotive with the help of a Schilling Brothers employee.
The injured, whose names were not released, were taken to St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Dyer and St. Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point. Their conditions were unknown late Wednesday, though fire officials said all three suffered serious traumatic injuries.
The derailment occurred about 12:35 p.m., directly behind the Schilling Brothers property, about a mile south of Lake Central High School on U.S. 41. The train, based out of Lafayette, was delivering lumber to a local business, though a CSX spokeswoman would not say whether that business was Schilling Brothers.
The cause of the accident is unknown, said David Hall, a CSX spokesman. Railroad officials arrived shortly after the derailment, and an investigation could take several weeks, he said.
Traffic traveling south along U.S. 41 crawled as passers-by approached an overpass near the accident scene. From the top, onlookers had a clear view of the wreckage, consisting of two engines, two freight cars and a caboose.
The first engine tipped to the side of the tracks, though remained generally upright. The freight cars — at least one of which lost its wheels — fell to the side, while the caboose remained on the tracks.
The second engine, however, fell onto its side and into several pallets of lumber on the Schilling Brothers property. Up to 6,000 gallons of diesel fuel and hydraulic oil leaked from the wreckage, requiring the assistance of hazardous materials personnel from the St. John Fire Department, the Lake County Fire Chief’s Association and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said Ralph McCullers, IDEM’s on-scene coordinator.
The spill was under control late Wednesday, and crews were expected to work into the night and for the next several days to further contain its spread, said Capt. Jim Funk of the St. John Fire Department. Workers were using vacuums and absorbent materials to remove the fuel and building berms made of sand bags to stop its flow from ditches on either side of the railroad tracks, McCullers said.
No evacuations were necessary, and the spill did not pose any danger to nearby residents, officials said.
As emergency personnel made their way to the accident scene, Tim and Nicole Schmitt of Cedar Lake observed the wreckage from the overpass on U.S. 41. The Schmitts were on their way to Hammond when Tim Schmitt, who is trained in CPR, turned their car around and stopped to help.
Nicole Schmitt dialed 911 as her husband made his way to the tracks. Once there, he encountered one of the injured CSX employees, who was partially ejected from the train and lying on the gravel underneath the second engine.
The man was conscious and complained of pain on his left side. Tim Schmitt stayed with him until emergency workers were able to remove the stacks of lumber scattered atop the engine and get to those injured inside.
“The guy, he was laying in the middle of the window, kept saying, ‘God Bless America. Thank you guys for being here,’ ” said Tim Schmitt, who works at The Home Depot in Schererville. “The only thing I could think of to say to him was that’s what we do.”
Another man dangled from the cab above, with only his feet visible, Tim Schmitt said. Emergency workers crawled into the cab to secure the man to a backboard before lifting him out, said Chief William Timmer of the Highland Fire Department, which used its heavy rescue truck to assist the St. John Fire Department with the extrications.
As the man was wheeled to a waiting ambulance, Tim Schmitt noticed he was drifting in and out of consciousness and had a big gash on the back of his head.
“Being up close like that, seeing all the mangled metal and how small the cab is, it’s a wonder those guys didn’t die,” he said. “That is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
Matt Morache, a Schilling Brothers employee, was working in the south lumber yard when the accident occurred.
One of several first responders from the business, Morache helped a third CSX employee to safety. She was crawling from the engine and screaming for help, he said.
Afterward, Morache checked inside the cab and saw the two men. He said he was afraid to move them because they appeared unconscious at the time, and he didn’t want to cause further injuries.
The derailment caused extensive damage to the tracks just past the switch to Schilling Brothers. Several yards of railroad ties were splintered, while the tracks themselves were uprooted from the ground and twisted out of shape.
An Amtrak spokeswoman said the accident affected one train, bound for Louisville, Ky., which was scheduled to depart at 10 p.m. from Union Station in Chicago. Amtrak planned to bus the passengers from Chicago to Indianapolis, where they will board a train to Louisville, she said. No other delays are expected.