Two brothers were struck and killed by a train while mourning a third brother who died in the same spot on the train tracks a week earlier, according to police in Charlotte, N.C.
The double fatality happened early last Tuesday outside Charlotte, where a LYNX Blue Line train fatally struck two men on the light rail track.
Pablo Tiquiram Us, 29, and his younger brother Jose, 20, were walking up the tracks around 5 a.m. when they were hit by the oncoming train, Charlotte police said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say the two men were on the tracks to conduct a memorial for their brother Baltazar Tiquiram Us, 27, who was struck by a train while in his car on July 26.
“They had been memorializing their brother on the one-week anniversary of his death, and they were conducting a memorial out by the site where he was killed,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Sgt. Adam Jones said during a press conference Wednesday. “Unfortunately, the two brothers were also struck by a train while they were on foot and they both succumbed to their injuries pretty quickly.”
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All safety measures were working properly around the train tracks at the time of the deaths, officials said in a news release. Baltazar reportedly drove around a crossing arm into the path of the train.
Authorities suspect alcohol was a factor in all three deaths.
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In the latest case, the conductor stopped the train immediately after the two men were hit.
Trains might seem like an easy-to-avoid danger but they can sneak up on people who are distracted on the tracks, according to Margaret Cannell, executive director of Operation Lifesaver North Carolina. The non-profit is dedicated to reducing railway crossing-related deaths.
“People always ask … ‘How do you get hit by a train? They’re so loud, they make so much noise, they’re so heavy, they blow their horn,’” Cannell told local broadcaster WJZY. “You can’t always depend on hearing a train. They’re much quieter until they get right up on you.”
The police investigation is ongoing.
— With files from The Associated Press
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