Update: Elderly Woman Dies After Evans City Train, Bus Collision

One person has died from injuries she sustained after a train struck a Butler Area Rural Transit bus carrying elderly and mentally challenged people Friday morning in Evans City.

The Allegheny Medical Examiner’s office said 91-year-old Claudette Miller, of Callery, died at 1:02 p.m. at Allegheny General Hospital.

She died of blunt force trauma to the head and trunk, according to the medical examiner's office.

The woman was one of 11 people injured on the white mini-bus, including the 60-year-old driver. At least one other person who was on the bus is in critical condition.

Evans City Police Chief Joe McCombs said the bus was heading east towards South Washington Street at about 8:15 a.m. when it stopped for an unknown reason on the tracks while the train was approaching.

The freight train blew its horn before striking the bus broadside, spinning it around, McCombs said.

"From the engineer’s account, the bus was stopped directly on the crossing," McCombs said. "There was nothing he could do to avoid the collision.

(For a press conference with McCombs, click on the video in this article).

The train, which was carrying asphalt, came to a stop about 100 yards from where it struck the bus, the chief said.

"It was pretty chaotic and a pretty severe impact," McCombs said. "There was a major intrusion on the one side of the bus."

Two helicopters transported the two most critically injured passengers from the scene. The other nine people were taken by ambulance to area hospitals.

(For more on this story, click here)

The ages of the injured range from 25 up to 92 years old. There were eight men and two women on the bus, McCombs said.

He described the passengers on the bus as being "terrified." Some were strapped into their spots by seatbelts, McCombs said. Others were laying on the floor.

"There were a lot of pretty seriously injured people that were in obvious pain and there were people who were obviously terrified and in shock that really couldn’t process what was going on," he said.

Passenger Conditions

Allegheny General Hopsital spokewsoman Stephanie Waite said four patients were transported to AHG in Pittsburgh, including the 91-year-old woman.

A 75-year-old man and a 35-year-old man are in serious condition. A 38-year-old man is in fair condition.

UPMC spokesman Rick Pietzak said at 12:43 p.m. that an adult female taken to Cranberry Passavant had non-life threatening injuries and was treated and released.

He also indicated that two adult men—each in their 40s— who were transported to UPMC McCandless were transferred to UPMC Presbyterian. Both men suffered non life-threatening injuries, he confirmed.

No further information was available about an adult male who was flown to UPMC Presbyterian for treatment of injuries suffered in the crash, Pietzak said.

Three people, including the bus driver, were taken to Butler Memorial Hospital, according to Connie Downs, spokeswoman for the Butler Health System.

Two of those people had been treated and released and the third was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Cranberry resident Linda Farrell said her 25-year-old son, Tim Farrell, was one of the people taken to Butler Memorial.

He is home now after suffering bumps and bruises. Farrell said one of her son’s friends, a Cranberry resident who also was on the bus, was taken to UPMC McCandless and is expected to be OK.

“My heart just goes out to everyone involved,” she said.

McCombs said the passengers were being transported to various locations, including homes and nursing homes prior to the accident.

The wheelchair-accessible BART buses carry people with developmental disabilities as part of a transportation program run by the Alliance For Nonprofit Resources in Butler.

BART provides on average 275 to 300 trips per day, according to the Alliance For Nonprofit Resources website.

Farrell said her son used the bus daily for transportation to various activities.

McCombs said it was foggy at the time of the crash. Authorities are investigating if weather was a factor in the accident. 

State police are reconstructing the accident, McCombs said. The Butler County District Attorney, TSA and The Department of Homeland Security also are at the scene.

Keep checking back with Patch for updates on this story.

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