Back in 2011, a small Utah community was left heartbroken after three young lives were lost in an accident that no one saw coming.
According to Utah County sheriff Sgt. Spencer Cannon, teens Essa Ricker, Kelsea Webster, and Kelsea’s younger sister Savannah had waved to engineers as a Utah Railway train passed by them at the Covered Bridge Canyon crossing in Utah.
Sgt. Cannon told reporters that the two trains were passing with very little space between them just three to four feet.
The approaching train struck all three teens. Essa and Kelsea were killed instantly on impact.
But despite efforts to save her, doctors later told her family that her brain injuries were far too severe to recover from.
Her life support was eventually removed.
“Even though they’ve had done everything possible, Savannah will not be able to recover any further. We will keep her on life support till the end of the day, but it’s time to say goodbye, for now, to an angel that walked among us.”
Just minutes before the accident, Savannah had posted on Facebook: “Standing right by a train ahaha this is awesome!!!!”
The photo they snapped moments before the impact even shows the distant glow of the oncoming train’s headlights in bright yellow behind them.
Sadly, they didn’t hear the warning horn in time to move out of the way.
“We watched in horror as we got closer.” John recalled emotionally. “We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward.”
Once the train finally came to a stop, John ran toward the scene. He reached one of the girls and quickly realized she had no pulse.
She was clinging to life, and John knelt down beside her to offer comfort.
“I told her everything would be OK and she relaxed a little.” he gently told her, trying to ease her fear in that moment.
