Cayce, SC (Paul Kirby) – Firefighters, EMS crews, and law enforcement officers are working together on the scene of a train versus pedestrian accident Wednesday morning. The first reported location the responders were sent to was on Overland Drive off Old Dunbar Road. Because the train apparently struck the person some distance from a street crossing, firefighters had difficulty locating where it actually stopped. It was in a very wooded area behind the Otis Spunkmeyer plant and the Churchill Heights neighborhood between street crossings.
Once the first battalion chief arrived, he asked his dispatch to contact the conductor of the train and have him sound the train's horn. Another truck moved up to a better vantage point west on Overland and they were finally able to see a train although it was still almost inaccessible. Another caller put the train’s location closer to Congaree Drive just off Charleston Highway in Cayce. The final report came from civilians who had directed the crews around to Windsor Drive on the west side of the tracks. That's where the train was eventually located. Crews were in constant communication with personnel from the train company as they worked to pinpoint where the locomotive stopped.
The person who was struck is conscious and breathing and was out on the tracks from under the train. Firefighters and EMTs had to hike through the woods before they made one-on-one contact with the train’s conductor and eventually the patient.
The patient has been injured to the point that he was not able to self-extricate himself from the woods. He was up on a raised area that emergency crews were describing as a trestle. Another truck was dispatched with ropes and special equipment should they be required to rig ropes to get the patient down and out to the road.
Law enforcement officers will investigate this incident to determine why the man was on the tracks. Walking or driving on railroad tracks is considered trespassing and anyone who violates the laws can be fined or arrested. Earlier this year, a deaf man was walking along the tracks near South Congaree when he was hit and killed by a train. His family said they were perplexed as to why he didn't feel the train's vibration even though he couldn't hear it coming.
We will try and update it throughout the morning.
