Two teenagers died after their vehicle collided with a Louisville & Indiana train at 10:17 p.m. Friday at a train crossing at North U.S. 31 and County Road West 550N.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as Matthew Newland, 18, Columbus, and the passenger was identified as Carmyn Elkins, 17, Columbus.
Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies said Deputy Adam Warner was sent to the accident and saw a train stopped south of the intersection with front end damage and a gray 2015 Nissan Versa which was heavily damaged in a field southeast of the intersection.
Newland and Elkins were unconscious and trapped in the vehicle, deputies said. Columbus firefighters extricated them from the vehicle and they were treated at the scene by first responders.
Newland was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital by ambulance and was pronounced dead at the hospital, deputies said. Elkins was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital by ambulance and was pronounced dead there, deputies said.
A witness said the Nissan turn from southbound U.S. 31 to travel east on County Road 550N and failed to yield to the southbound train at the crossing, where the railroad crossing equipment was working, deputies said.
The train also sounded its horn several times, the witness told deputies.
Deputies are reviewing the video footage of the crash from the train dash camera.
No one on the train was injured.
The accident is the second double fatality involving a train in two months.
Two people in a sports utility vehicle were killed Oct. 8 and a third was seriously injured at a northern Bartholomew County railroad crossing near Edinburgh.
That accident happened at 11:47 p.m. along County Road 900N about a mile east of U.S. 31 next to Hisada America Inc. in the Edinburgh Industrial park area.
State police said a red 1996 Jeep Cherokee was traveling east on County Road 900N when the occupants disregarded the stop sign at the railroad crossing and drove into the path of a southbound Louisville & Indiana train, which consisted of two locomotives. The locomotives were not pulling any train cars.
For more on this story, see Sunday’s Republic.
