LIRR trains slam into car on tracks, killing three
Two LIRR trains going in opposite directions slammed into a vehicle on the tracks in Long Island Tuesday — killing three people inside and causing a partial derailment, authorities said⛎.
The vehicle was racing toward the School Street crossing in Westburyꦰ an🔜d tried to circumvent the security gates when it was “obliterated” by the two trains, according to an MTA source.
It went around a functioning gate — with lights flashing — and was struck by th☂e eastbound train at aro꧟und 7:20 p.m.
The vehicle then spun around on꧟ the tracks — and was hit again by the westbound train, the source said.
“My understanding is that the gates were down and the lights were flashing,” LIRR President Phillip Eng told reporters at th𝕴e scene. “Witnesses have said the vehicle went around the gates.”
🌃Authorities could not identify the victims because the bodies were so badly burned.
About𓃲 900 people were safely evac💜uated from both trains. A total of 7 people suffered minor injuries.
“I was ready to get off the train when all of a sudden I felt something under the train,” Jose Alexander Gomez, 25, who was on the eastb𒈔ound train told The Post.
“🧜I had an eerie feeling…. I knew we hit something.”
He added: “Peopl🐼e from the last car ran toward the front yelling there was a fire. Then everything shut off.”
The front two cars of the second train jump♏ed off the rails.
Service was suspended on the Ronkokoma and Huntington/Port Jeff♛erson B💝ranches in both directions following the crash.
Eng said he ꦯex🌟pects the morning commute will be impacted. Two hundred feet of rail need to be replaced, he said.
The Manhattan-bound train was due to arrive at Penn Station at 7:56 p.m. The eastbound train was set to get to Hicksvill🃏e around 7:22 p.m.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for a “full investigation into the coll🤪ision” with cooperation of ꧟the MTA, State Police, local law enforcement and the NTSB.
The derailment was not the only fatal incident on the LIRR Tuesday. A man was killed when he was struck by a westꦆbound LIRR train between Freeport and Baldwin at arou😼nd 3:45 p.m.