SOLEDAD, Calif.- One person is dead in an accident involving a train.
11:08 AM UPDATE: CHP says the car struck earlier this morning by a train was a 1990 Honda Civic. Police say two Hispanic men were in the car when it was struck crossing Silliman Road near the Soledad Correctional Facility. The two people were struck by a southbound traveling freight train. The passenger was ejected from the car, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Honda was taken to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital with major injuries. The identities of the two men in the car have not been released.
No one on the train was injured. The train itself had little to no damage on it and continued it's scheduled route after the investigation.
Officers say drugs or alcohol do not appear to be a factor in the collision. The accident is still under investigation.
Officers still do not know why the Honda Civic was stopped on the train tracks. The train was traveling 65mph when it hit the car with the two men inside. The train honked several times before it collided into the vehicle.
7:36 AM UPDATE: Witnesses say the car seemed to stop on the tracks, CHP is still investigating whether the car had any mechanical problems. The driver of the small sedan was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, the passenger was killed instantly.
Investigators believe the two people in the car were fieldworkers on their way to work in a field nearby.
The car was crossing over the tracks, and witnesses say the train blew its horn at least a mile and a half ahead of time.
7:10 AM UPDATE: CHP is confirming there is one person dead in the accident involving a car that hit a train. No indication of what type of train, but CHP is calling Union Pacific because those are the trains that use the tracks in Soledad where the accident happened.
6:50 AM: The California Highway Patrol is on scene at an accident involving a car that hit a train in Soledad near the correctional facility.
The accident happened around 6:45 a.m. when CHP said reports indicate a car hit a train near Camphora and Siliman Roads. There are reports of a possible fatality.
