Amtrak train fatally strikes 2 juveniles on tracks in Pennsylvania

CHESTER, Pa. — Two juveniles were struck and killed by an Amtrak train traveling through Pennsylvania on Saturday, authorities said.

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A spokesman for Amtrak said two people had been “trespassing” on the tracks when they were struck by southbound Train 161 at 4:29 p.m. EDT, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The train was heading from New York to Washington, according to the newspaper.

Members of the Chester Police Chaplain Corps confirmed to KYW-TV that the victims were two children. Their identities and ages have not been released.

“It just broke my heart,” resident Clare Thomas told the television station. “That could have been my 10-year-old up there. How would I feel? I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“There was about five, or six, or seven of them. It was a pack of children on the track,” a woman named Tracey, who did not give her last name, told WPVI-TV. “We were getting out of the car and I said, ‘Oh, look at them children up there on that track.’ I said, ‘Y’all need to come down off that track,’ and they just looked, and I said ‘Y’all come down before you have an accident,’ and they just laughed and went about their business.

“I just wish the children would have listened, and I’m just so sorry.”

There were no injuries reported to the train’s 368 passengers or crew members, Amtrak said in a statement. Train service resumed at about 6 p.m. EDT on Saturday, the Inquirer reported. Amtrak officials said the crash delayed eight other company trains.

In a statement, the company said it was risky to trespass on train tracks, The Washington Post reported.

“Anyone not authorized to be on railroad property, including using the tracks as a ‘shortcut’ or not heeding the warnings of the approaching train, is trespassing as they are on the property without a lawful reason to do so,” the statement said.

Chester’s mayor is also urging residents to stay clear of the tracks.

“We try to encourage both our young folks and old to stay as far away from the tracks as possible. Our prayers go out to the family members,” Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland said, according to WPVI.