Monday, March 16, 2009

A semi truck collided with a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train just north of Newkirk, Oklahoma early Monday morning.

The truck was destroyed but no injuries were reported, according to information available at the scene.

The truck was owned by BCI Barn Builders, a Ft. Gibson, Okla.-based barn materials supplier. The driver was able to exit the vehicle and suffered no injuries.

The accident occurred just before 8 a.m. about three miles north of Newkirk just off the U.S. 77 highway corridor.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said 41-year-old Ronald Sinclair, of Tahlequah, Okla., got out of the flatbed trailer after it got high-centered on the tracks. He was trying to put board's under the trailer's tires when he heard the train whistle.

A spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad said the 112-car train was going about 53 mph just before the collision.

The truck driver worked for a construction company out of Fort Gibson, Okla.

(Information courtesy Newscow.net and the Associated Press)