Three killed in Monroe County when train hits SUV stuck on tracks northwest of Forsyth
Three people were killed Wednesday evening when a freight train struck an SUV that was stuck on the tracks at a private rail crossing near a home in rural Monroe County, sheriff’s officials there said.
A preliminary account of the accident was that two of the victims were inside a Ford Flex when it somehow became stuck in the crossing a few miles northwest of Forsyth in the countryside between Interstate 75 and U.S. 41, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Anna Lewis.
A third person had apparently been trying to help the others get out of the SUV or free it from the tracks when the train crashed into the Ford at about 6:20 p.m., Lewis said.
The victims who’d been riding in the Ford have since been identified as Shirley Treadwell, 93, and Debra Ruth Hall, 66, both of Monroe County. The third victim, the person said to have been trying to help the women, was identified as 47-year-old Chris Burkett, also of Monroe County.
The crash scene lies in farmland near the intersection of Goodwyne and Collier Roads just over a mile west of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 8:31 PM.