7 March 2006
Woman Dead After Train Runs Her Over
Kamloops - Despite their best efforts, firefighters and paramedics couldn't save the life of
a Kamloops woman hit by a train Sunday.
Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Keith Ferguson said witnesses saw the 46-year-old standing in the train's path at 3:15 p.m. She was
pronounced dead at Royal Inland Hospital hours later.
Brett Fuoco, 19, said the train's screeching breaks caused him to look up from a meal he was preparing at his parents' home on Flamingo
Road. He moved to the window facing the tracks and saw a woman in a purple jacket standing in the train's path.
"The lady was facing the train. The train hit her and rolled over her," he said.
Fuoco fought back tears as he stood at the intersection of Highland Road and the Trans-Canada Highway. Behind him,
firefighters and paramedics struggled to save the woman's life.
"I didn't get a good look at her. She didn't make a move. She just stood there," he said.
Bonnie Ritchey and her aunt Ellen Burnham were walking along Flamingo when the incident happened. They heard the wail of the train's
breaks long before it came to a stop.
"It started as far back as Tanager Drive. We walked down to see what happened but it was over by then," Burnham said.
She and Ritchey stood on the south side of the Trans-Canada and watched police direct traffic around the scene. Both women
agreed that it was a terrible situation.
The victim was placed on a spine board and loaded into the back of an ambulance within a half-hour of the collision. She
was rushed to Royal Inland Hospital with lights and siren blaring. The mass of onlookers that gathered at the side of the road slowly
dispersed.
The train's crew remained in the engine, out of sight of prying eyes.
Kamloops RCMP and members of the CP Rail police spent the next hour taking pictures of the scene. One officer collected the woman's
belongings in a clear plastic bag. A pair of shoes were clearly visible.
Const. Amadeo Vecchio said police initially responded to a report of a woman walking on the train tracks. It was a different, more
upsetting situation when they arrived.
"We located the female under the second locomotive. Firefighters and ambulance worked feverishly to get her out," he said.
The big question on investigators' minds is why the woman was on the tracks in the first place, he said.
"We'll be working with the CP police to piece that together," said Vecchio.
CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said the crew did everything in their power to stop the train before it reached the woman.
"She appeared in front of the train and the crew sounded the whistle. With a freight train of that mass and weight it takes a mile
to bring it to an emergency stop," he said.
"Our concerns are with the person and our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends."
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