Freight train kills 2 on bridge

RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – A Union Pacific freight train hit five people Monday as they were walking on a railroad bridge over the Lewis River, killing two of them.

The southbound train, on its way from Seattle to Portland, was crossing the “Ghost Bridge” over the Lewis River when the accident occurred in a rural area about 13 miles north of Vancouver in southwest Washington.

Arin Kight, 30, and Ashley Falk, 12, both of Ridgefield, were killed, the Clark County sheriff’s office said Monday night. The Clark County medical examiner’s office said the man who was killed was 33 years old and there was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.

John Bromley, a Union Pacific spokesman in Omaha, Neb., told The Associated Press by telephone that the group of people was trespassing on the bridge, which he described as private property and “not a pedestrian passageway.”

Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, said a two-locomotive Union Pacific train with 47 rail cars struck more than one person near the middle or south end of the bridge.

Melonas said the man who was killed was from Ridgefield and the 12-year-old child who was killed was his neighbor.

The sheriff’s office identified the injured children as 12-year-old Heaven Campbell, 7-year-old Matt Thompson, and 6-year-old Wayne Frye. Their hometowns and relationships were not immediately released.

No information was immediately available on their conditions, although KGW Television in Portland reported that three people were taken to hospitals.

The bridge links Ridgefield and the town of Woodland, directly to the north. The only land route involves driving a car on Interstate 5, said local resident Joel Natterstad, 28, so it’s common for children to cross the bridge instead.

“My very first memory in life is of being on that train bridge with my mom and dad. We were crossing to go to a beach on the Ridgefield side. The train came and we got spooked,” he said.

“Now that I’m older and I have my own wheels I just drive. But there’s a bond between the two cities based on friendships and if you can’t drive, what are you going to do?” he said.

Until about five years ago, an 8- by 8-foot plank jutting out from the tracks provided a safe haven for those crossing the bridge if a train came, he said, but it was removed.

Bromley said there was no indication that the train was moving too fast. He said Union Pacific would investigate.