Three teen girls killed by train, countless lives changed

Three teenage girls were dropped off at the mall with a friend. Three teenage girls didn't make it back home. Parents had to find out that they were hit by a train instead of just being girls at a mall. A friend lived to tell what happened, but went from having fun with his friends, to watching them die. A neighbor near the tracks said he will never stop thinking about it. Another man nearby heard it all happened and had even warned the girls about the danger they were getting themselves into. The people on the train will never be the same. The emergency responders will never be the same. The families and friends of these girls will never be the same. This is what a traumatic event looks like. It is never a case where just the family is changed, but countless other lives as well.

Train kills 3 teen girls crossing Florida bridge
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press Writer

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) -- Three teenage girls were joking around and taking pictures on a narrow bridge when they were hit by a train, killing them as a friend watched helplessly, police and a witness said Sunday.

The girls and the fourth teenager, a boy, had been hanging out in Melbourne's downtown area - known for its shops and nightclubs - when they decided to cross the trestle around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Lt. Curtis Barger said. Their parents had dropped them off at a mall, and then they took a bus downtown where they were "just goofing off," he said.

The boy yelled for the girls to run when he saw the train approach, then told them to jump, Barger said. Crane Creek, about 20 feet below the bridge, is slow-moving and about 10 feet deep. The girls did not have enough time.

Bruce Dumas, 53, said he was fishing under the bridge when he saw the teens walk onto the trestle around sunset. He warned them to be careful, but he said they didn't pay much attention to him.

"You know how kids are," Dumas said. "They probably wanted pictures of themselves on the track."

The girls were about midway across when the train barreled down the tracks, blowing its whistle continuously, he said. Dumas said he could hear the sound of the brakes. After the impact, he heard a girl screaming and crying.

"I think the train was on them so fast they froze and didn't know what to do," Dumas said. "It's crazy to watch a young life snuffed out like that. They didn't have a chance to live yet."
read more here
Train kills 3 teen girls crossing Florida bridge