5 killed, including 3 children, in train-vehicle crash in Colorado

Five people are dead and one girl injured in a collision between a train and a minivan on Sunday moing in Colorado.

According to the Colorado State Patrol, the front of an Amtrak train plowed into the side of a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country around 9:45 a.m. after the vehicle did not stop for the locomotive. The impact pushed the van west along the railroad tracks until the train was able to come to a stop.

The driver of the Chrysler and four of the passengers within the vehicle were killed in the accident. A fifth passenger, identified by KMGH as a juvenile girl, was airlifted from the scene and taken to a Denver hospital, state troopers said. According to KMGH, three other juveniles were killed in the crash.

 

Heidi Miller (circled) a four-year-old girl and sole survivor of a crash that killed her entire family yesterday has woken up in hospital and is asking for her mother. Her father and her three young daughters Abigail, 6, Kathryn, 2, and eight-month-old Ellianna were also killed (pictured) 

 

Steve and Christina Miller were killed in Colorado on their way to church on Sunday when their minivan collided with a Los Angeles-bound Amtrak train

According to family members, Steve Miller, his wife Christina, and their four daughters were on their way to church when their vehicle was struck by the train.The accident happened near Trinidad in Las Animas County, roughly 200 miles south of Denver. Investigators believe the van failed to yield right of way to the train, which led to the crash. They do not, however, believe that drugs or alchohol played a part in the collision.

A representative for Amtrak told The Denver Post that the train was on its way to Los Angeles from Chicago and had 286 people on board at the time of the crash. Passengers were stranded Sunday afteoon, although no one on the train was injured.

The Colorado State Patrol is continuing its investigation into the incident.