PITTSBURGH — Law enforcement officials are investigating two separate railroad fatalities involving a 21-year-old Pittsburgh area college student and a nine-year-old boy in Virginia.
Carlow University student Lindsey Michaels was killed over Labor Day weekend while trying to hop a Norfolk Southern train near Pittsburgh with a man local media say was her boyfriend. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the man only injured his ankle, but Michaels was killed in the incident.
The newspaper cites a Norfolk Southern representative saying that the train was headed to South Fork, Pa., on the Mon Line at the time of the incident. While trying to hop the train, Michaels was dragged by the 130-car loaded coal drag. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. Sept. 3.
Separately, a nine-year-old boy was killed near Rocketts Landing, Va., while playing in a CSX Transportation rail yard. According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch article, approximately five children were playing in the rail yard on Monday afternoon when a freight train struck the boy.
The nine-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, but he later died from his injuries.
Local police officers and CSX special agents are investigating the Rocketts Landing incident.