13yr old sleeping on train tracks killed in Alaska

[cleofus1]

this is horrible...but why...why go to sleep on train tracks?

"A 13-year-old child is dead after being hit by an Alaska Railroad train in Willow the town is grieving the lost.11 News first brought you this story on Friday today we have new information on what the boy was doing on the tracks. Troopers say that 13-year-old Austin Webb was sleeping on the train tracks on Friday evening when he was hit by the train. Willow is a very small town, and the entire community is grieving the loss of one of their own.
13-year old Austin Webb was hit by an Alaska Railroad train on these tracks near Willow Creek Friday. "From our understanding Webb and his 12-year-old friend Michael they were out that day fishing and laid down on the tracks then to take an afternoon nap,” says Greg Wilkinson. The two children were napping on the tracks when a train carrying 270 tourists rounded the corner. Crew on board the train saw the boys and immediately blow the whistles and hit the emergency break. Walker got off the tracks before the train made impact...but Webb did not. The family and friends of 13-year-old Austin Webb put flowers near the tracks today to remember a life tragically taken at such a young age.

Friends say that Webb was a popular kid with two siblings…and his mother is understandably having a very difficult time. The whole community is shaken by the death, hearts are filled with pain. “I am sure that all the kids, this is a small tight knit community so all the kids here are going to need to be talked to,” says Mike Evans who lives near the accident. This is not the first time people have been killed on the tracks five people throughout the state are dead from walking or sleeping on railroad tracks. "It's happened three times, it's sickening, it's not a very good place for people to be trespassing on the bridge,” says Evans."

http://www.ktva.com/Stories/0,1413,163~6882~2970115,00.html

[Wetzelbill]

1. Wow, that is sad

[Shell Beau]

2. What a tragic incident. But I am

with you on why would they pick train tracks to nap on. I guess it shows how naive a 13 year old can be. Very sad.

[Zuni]

3. I'll never understand how so many people get hit by trains

you would think that they would move or not sleep on the tracks :shrug:

[Shell Beau]

5. And he must have been in a deep sleep

not to have heard it coming.

[Zuni]

6. of course, the question of

why were you sleeping on train tracks is still valid.

:hi: Shell

[Shell Beau]

9. That is something we will never understand I am sure.

[In_The_Wind]

4. poor child ... how very sad

[cleofus1]

7. so tragic

i don't even know the kid and i feel like crying...

[In_The_Wind]

8. there is nothing worse that having to bury your own child

we expect to say good-bye to our parents and some of our friends but nothing prepares us for the loss of a child

[DS1]

10. I'm skeptical

I can't believe anyone would be dumb enough to sleep on train tracks at that age, it sounds more like to me like a game of chicken that went wrong. Lie down on tracks, wait for train, try get up at last moment.

[madaboutharry]

11. "A game of chicken."

Could be the case.

[cleofus1]

12. it does seem that they were asleep...

according to witnesses...

[Phentex]

17. coulda just been suicide.

:(

[cleofus1]

13. official reaction

“It’s absolutely crazy. I told these kids I ever find one step on the track, then you guys are going to wish you were dead. I don’t want to go through this as a parent. I’m just a friend. I know the parents and I can’t imagine,” Shawna June said.


And she hopes she never will. The June children won’t be allowed back to this area. Shawna June says this area is a very popular fishing spot. She says adults often stand on the tracks down by the water.



Railroad officials say since 1995, three people have been killed by trespassing on the tracks. The last one came in 1998 outside of Seward. Authorities say a man, who was apparently inebriated, fell asleep on the tracks."

[Coventina]

14. What compels people to sleep on train tracks?

I know someone who's brother-in-law was killed while sleeping on train tracks as well.

:wtf:

[cleofus1]

15. it seems the official given is very senseless

Troopers don’t know why the boys were asleep on the tracks. They're taking Webb's body to Anchorage for an autopsy. But troopers know that he had been out all day and the night before fishing, so one theory is that he was exhausted.

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Poor kid

Even adults sometimes underestimate the hazards of RR tracks. I guess to a thirteen year old it looked like a more or less level cleared spot away perhaps away from the swarms of mosquitos and gnats at the water's edge or in the woods. That they were exhausted would add to poor decision making like this.