Two Pacific Union railway workers died and at least two others were injured after a freight train collided with a tractor-trailer, derailed, and slammed into a Chamber of Commerce building in Pecos, Texas, authorities said Thursday.
Around 5 p.m. Wednesday, the train hit a truck stuck on the tracks at a railway crossing, and careened into the building, authorities said. Both railway workers killed were on the train.
Pecos Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Joe Keese told KWES-TV he thought “I’m going to die” as the crash unfolded, adding: “I put my back against the wall and stood there while the building fell down around us.”
At least two of the injured people had been inside the Chamber of Commerce building when the train hit, the Austin American-Statesman reported. They were treated for minor injuries, Pecos Police Department Chief Lisa Tarango said.
Officials said there was “no immediate hazard to public safety” and that hazardous materials the train had been transporting had been contained, including leaked fuel. The materials included lithium ion batteries and air bags.
Pecos is about 75 miles southwest of Odessa and 200 miles east of El Paso, with a population of 13,000.
The union representing engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, called the derailment “a reminder that much more needs to be done to make railroading safer” and “should serve as a wake-up call to legislators to improve rail safety,” national president Eddie Hall said in a statement.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Union Pacific are investigating.