COSHOCTON, Ohio — An employee of Ohio Central Railroad Inc. was transported by MedFlight to the Ohio State University Medical Center after his foot was run over by a train car, the Coshocton Tribune reports.
Matt S. Lingo, 33, of West Lafayette, had just finished switching tracks on the railroad when the accident occurred in the Red Sea area of town, according to Coshocton Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Mast. Lingo, a conductor, was attempting to jump onto a train car when his foot got caught under the car’s wheel.
Regular train cars have railings for workers to hold onto, but this one was a flat-bed car and had no railings, said Rick Eaches, a train car repairman. Eaches was there when the accident happened and called 911.
Because there was no rail for Lingo to catch onto, he slipped and his left foot was caught under the car. However, he was able to avoid getting the rest of his body sucked under the car.
Eaches said he was about 45 seconds away from Lingo when the accident happened. Another repairman ran to see what happened and then radioed back to Eaches to call 911.
“When you get a guy on the radio screaming, ‘Call 911,’ you know something’s wrong,” Eaches said.
Bill Strawn, president of Ohio Central Railroad, would only say the incident is under investigation.
“The most important thing is to get this taken care of right now,” he said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Lingo was still in surgery according to David Crawford, a spokesman for the medical center.