Authorities say an Ottumwa man is lucky to be alive after being hit by a train on Sunday afternoon. The incident happened on Ottumwa’s west end on the rail line owned by Canadian Pacific Railway. Authorities say the unidentified person was walking down the railroad tracks, with headphones on, when he was struck from behind by a train.
Witnesses say the train made every attempt to warn the man, by sounding its horns and applying its air brakes, but the man just didn’t hear the train. Sergeant Milligan, with the Ottumwa Police Department, says the man “got really lucky, the cattle guard threw him off the track like its supposed to do.” Milligan says the person suffered only minor injuries, but was transported to the hospital as a precaution. Milligan says the railroad has requested the person be cited for trespassing.
In Mount Pleasant, one person was killed and another injured Sunday morning after being struck by a BNSF train. In Dubuque, a 23-year-old man was killed Saturday night when he was struck by a train.
(Reporting by Nick Davis, KBIZ, Ottumwa)