Unfortunately, the teenagers were not able to hear the horn blasting. As one train conductor at the time, John Anderson, put it: “They were in their own little world.”
Engineer Michael Anderson blared the train’s horn in an attempt to attract the three friends’ attention, but it was unsuccessful.
“We watched in horror as we got closer,” John remembered in a terrible way. “We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward.”
When the train stopped, John ran to the track and discovered that the first girl was not breathing. Additionally, he realized the second teen was dead and made his way to Savannah.
Despite her injuries, she was still alive. The teen was reassured by the conductor, “I told her everything would be OK and she relaxed a little,”
“I hoped she would make it and for some reason I really thought she would.”
