A truck driver from Freedom, Mo., escaped injury Sunday when an 87-car freight train slammed into his truck and lowboy trailer that had become hung up on railroad tracks in the small town of Mer Rouge in northern Louisiana.
Media reports say Daniel Shackleford, a driver for Taylor Truck Line 0f Northfield, Minn., was able to get out of his cab before the accident occurred. It appears there was a large crane on the lowboy.
The engineer and conductor of the 87-car Union Pacific train were injured in the crash, which resulted in the evacuation of some 50 homes, according to media reports. The train was carrying inert argon gas; one tank was in danger of exploding and another was leaking.
Two engines and 17 cars of the train derailed.
This footage calmly captured by a couple driving from West Monroe, La. to Memphis shows the collision and their reaction.
