3 killed when Amtrak train hits SUV at South Florida crossing

Three people died Saturday when their SUV was struck by an Amtrak train in South Florida, authorities said.

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First responders said the victims were a woman and two children, according to the Palm Beach Post. The crash occurred near the entrance of the Corbett Wildlife Management Area in Jupiter, located in northern Palm Beach County, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

The woman was driving a Subaru Outback that contained camping equipment, WPTV reported.

The railroad crossing had no gate and the tracks were 25 yards from the turnoff of a main highway, the Sun-Sentinel reported. There was a yield sign and two railroad markers, but brush near the crossing obstructed the view of drivers, the newspaper reported.

There were no injuries to any of the 200 passengers or crew inside the train, Christina E. Leeds, senior director of public relations for Amtrak, told WPTV. The Silver Meteor Train 97 was heading from New York to Miami when the 2 p.m. crash occurred, Amtrak officials said.

The crash pushed the SUV about a half-mile before the train stopped.

"It sounded like a shotgun going off," Earl Megonigal, a check station operator at the wildlife management area, told the Post. "Then we heard the train stopping and ran up there and saw all the car parts."

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