Two girls who sunbathed on train tracks hit by train.

[Immortal Ace]

LEBANON, Maine—Two teenage girls sunbathing on a railroad trestle lost limbs when a train came upon them unexpectedly in this New Hampshire border town, police said Wednesday.
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The girls were lying on beach towels on the trestle over Three Mill Pond when the train rounded a corner and began braking and blasting its horn shortly before 11 a.m., said Lt. Gary Fecteau of the York County Sheriff's Department.

The conductor and engineer say they never saw the girls move, but their injuries suggest they tried to scramble away at the last moment, Fecteau said.

Destiny Phaneuf, 13, of Lebanon, lost her leg just below the knee; Rachel Brown 14, also of Lebanon, lost a foot, Fecteau said. Both were airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Crews searched the water for their lost limbs, Lebanon Fire Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Coty said.

The girls were cutting class and enjoying the sunny weather when the freight train came upon them, Fecteau said. There's no indication the girls were impaired by alcohol or drugs, or that their hearing was impaired by headphones, he said.

Phaneuf was unconscious when authorities arrived; Brown told police that the pair had fallen asleep while sunbathing, he said.

Christie West, who lives across from the tracks in Milton, N.H., said the train comes by the same time every day. This time, she said it screeched to a halt after passing her back door.

"That's about where I saw a little girl laying, and her knees were bent, so I could see small legs bent on the railroad tracks, and she was moving, so I knew that she was alive," West told WMUR-TV.

The train crew called to report the accident when it happened. Police and rescue workers from Milton were first on the scene. They turned the investigation over to York County authorities after determining that the incident had happened in Maine.

Neighbors said the area is off-limits, but it is still a popular spot where people hang out and swim.

Officials said last year, a boy riding his bike was hit on the trestle. Milton police said they are called to the area at least once a day over the summer.

A nonprofit rail safety organization said the tragedy underscores the inherent danger of trespassing on private railroad property.

"Though it's not known how fast the train which struck the individuals was traveling, it's a fact that trains can't stop quickly. Even a slow-moving train can weigh millions of pounds and may take hundreds of yards to come to an emergency stop," said Fred Hirsch, state coordinator of Maine Operation Lifesaver.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...ief_2_girls_struck_by_train_in_lebanon_maine/

Wow.

On a side note, how the **** does a train come upon you "unexpectedly"? Really.

 

[mrtn]

Oh, what a perfect sunbathing spot...

 

[FriendlyFire]

Neighbors said the area is off-limits, but it is still a popular spot where people hang out and swim.

trespassing on private railroad property

Tragic at least it wasnt fatal a foot and a leg lost could have been much worse.

 

[philippe]

skipping school on a wednesday in the morning to go sunbathe.

Ages 13 and 14

Nothing of value was lost.

 

[obliterate]

Really stupid girls.

 

[CaptainF]

Kids, this is why you don't imbibe whatever you find in your parents' closet during them early years!

 

[scy12]

Oh, what a perfect sunbathing spot...

My thoughts exactly. How crazy can one be to sunbath on the traintracks ? The only explanation is that they are ******** or they Do they not even know what a train is ,

 

[CaptainF]

My thoughts exactly. How crazy can one be to sunbath on the traintracks ? The only explanation is that they are ******** or they Do they not even know what a train is ,

Or they were thoroughly intoxicated on something, or just theatrically suicidal. Or both.

 

[Rambuchan]

How crazy can one be to sunbath on the traintracks ?

Yeah. Everyone knows that steel gets uncomfortably hot in the open sun.

 

[Tee Kay]

Well, they "only" lost a limbs. They could've lost their lives.

But seriously they brought this on themselves.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I might suond very cynical but if they hadn't survived they'd now be strong contenders for the next Darwin Award.

 

[dutchfire]

I might suond very cynical but if they hadn't survived they'd now be strong contenders for the next Darwin Award.

My first thoughts too.

 

[nonconformist]

Am I the only one who saw they were skipping class, and whose first thought was "well, they're not gonna do much skipping now"?

 

[JohnRM]

Natural selection at its finest.

 

[IglooDame]

On the local news last night it was reported that they had some evidence that the girls had music players (iPods or the like) on. It would explain why they didn't get out of the way (it was also reported that the train usually went 25-30mph, but because of an intersection previously was only doing about 15), but so far no explanation of the cosmic stupidity inherent in lying down on a known-active railroad track.

 

[aelf]

I can already hear the dumb blonde jokes.

 

[nivi]

Call me insensitive or whatever, but if all the facts are correct, they deserved it.

 

[joycem10]

Phaneuf? anyone named Phaneuf deserves to lose a leg.

This sounds like the first chapter of a Steven King book.

Maine? Check.
Railroad tracks? Check.
Teenagers? Check.
Horrible disfiguring accident? Check.

What you didnt hear was that a Type 2 Vampire held the girls down on the rails because they were destined to assist Roland in his quest for the Dark Tower at some future point in thier lives. Or maybe it was Pennywise.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Has Maine ever appeared in fiction that wasn't created by Steven King?

 

[Cutlass]

It's not that hard to hear a train coming idiots.