On Sunday 5 October 2014 at 1:04 pm, a north bound Union Pacific train struck a semi at about 45 mph that had been high centered on the crossing for approximately 2 minutes. The truck was carrying a heavy duty crane. The impact destroyed the truck trailer and crane. Norfolk Southern Dash 9-40CW 9939, was the lead locomotive and left the tracks within seconds of the impact and hit the dirt on its left side. The second locomotive, SP AC44CW 6387, also left the tracks, but remained upright and veered off the right-of-way to its right. A dozen freight cars then impacted into the locomotives, some of which immediately began leaking argon gas...fortunately an inert gas. The truck driver escaped without injury. However, the two man crew was not as lucky and were air-lifted to a Shreveport hospital some 120 miles away. The engineer suffered a compound facture to one leg. The conductor received multiple broken ribs and reportedly had to undergo some sort of heart surgery as well. Both are expected to fully recover. This is the fifth accident within the last two years at this grade crossing in the middle of the town of Mer Rouge. Three of those accidents resulted in fatalities to the vehicles occupants, but this is the first time a train has derailed. A dramatic and chilling HD video of the actual impact of this accident, as well as additional video of the aftermath, is available by visiting, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuH1Ogdx4cg&index=1&list=FLDbSgdfEWAKS2SirsTrOXxw
