SILVANA — A Snohomish teen was killed when she was hit by freight train in an unincorporated area near Arlington around 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The girl, 17, was with two teens at a popular swimming spot near the railroad tracks in Silvana. Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Todd Swenson said the other teens were not injured.
The Snohomish girl and the two teens went out onto a trestle above the Stillaguamish River. An Everett boy jumped into the water before the train arrived. The two girls were on the trestle as the train approached. They tried to get off the bridge before it arrived.
The train blew its horn and applied the emergency brake. A teen girl from Edmonds was able to get to the side of the trestle as the train passed.
The Snohomish girl could not get out of the way. She was struck and killed.
Once the train stopped, Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas said, a crewmember who is a volunteer firefighter tried to give the girl CPR. The train was traveling at about 40 miles an hour to Vancouver, British Columbia, from Portland, Oregon. After the girl was struck, the tracks were shut down until BNSF could confirm the safety of the bridge. Normal operations were resumed at about 7 p.m.
Melonas said people should stay off the tracks because it is dangerous and illegal. This is the ninth death on BNSF tracks in Washington this year, he said.
“This is a very tragic situation,” Melonas said.
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