Train slams into Texas parade float

10:54 AM, Nov 16, 2012   |    comments
  • Rescuers look at a damaged trailer near the train. James Durbin, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • Parade president and founder Terry Johnson talks on a phone after the accident. The float was one of two flat-bed trucks carrying veterans and their spouses. The first truck safely crossed the railroad tracks, but the second truck's trailer was hit by the train. Tim Fischer, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • A trailer that was carrying wounded veterans to a banquet sits near the site of the accident. The locomotive was sounding its horn as people jumped off the decorated flatbed truck before the collision around 4:40 p.m. in Midland. Tim Fischer, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • People cry after a trailer carrying wounded veterans in a parade was struck by a train on Nov. 15 in Midland, Texas. Four people were killed and 17 others injured when a parade float tried to get through a West Texas railroad crossing on its way to an honorary banquet. James Durbin, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • A flatbed truck carries wounded veterans and their families during a parade in Midland. Twenty-four veterans and their spouses were sitting in chairs on the float. James Durbin, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • Rescuers work at the accident scene. Tim Fischer, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • Rescue workers and parade participants gather near the accident scene. James Durbin, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • People react after a trailer carrying wounded veterans in a parade was struck by a train. James Durbin, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • Rescue workers gather near the mangled trailer. Tim Fischer, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • Parade participants gather near the train crossing. James Durbin, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
  • People react as emergency personnel work at the scene of the accident. James Durbin, Reporter-Telegram, via AP
    
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USA Today
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MIDLAND, Texas -- Wounded U.S. military veterans leapt for their lives just before a freight train struck their parade in rural Texas, killing four people and injuring 17, and federal officials rushed to the scene Friday to piece together why it happened. About two dozen veterans and their spouses had been sitting in chairs on the parade float, set up on the back of a flatbed truck decorated with American flags. Many seemed to panic as the train's horn sounded, said Patricia Howle, who was waiting in her car at a nearby traffic light.

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