DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — An Amtrak train hit a tractor-trailer Thursday, killing the driver of the 18-wheel rig that wrapped around the locomotive and briefly caught fire. Ten people on the train were injured.
The locomotive hit the vehicle at a downtown crossing and came to a stop off the tracks but remained upright, officials said.
The truck driver, John Allen Wilkerson, 39, of South Boston, Va., was flung from the vehicle and declared dead at a hospital.
One man and eight children on the train were treated and released, while a woman was hospitalized with chest pains.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari in Chicago said the Carolinian — with seven cars and about 240 passengers — had set out from Charlotte Thursday morning for New York.
It hit the truck at a downtown grade crossing equipped with flashing lights and other warning signs, officials said.
A device in the locomotive that records train speed and other data will be examined to find out what happened, he said.