/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/TKIGDRDDJZA7DEBJRADBH3UJPA.jpeg "Deputies blame driver of truck that was hit by train")
EVANS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A day after a train slammed into a truck stopped on railroad tracks at the Club Car plant, deputies say the driver of the big-rig is to blame.
A report was released Friday by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, shedding light on the crash that happened around 2:41 p.m. Thursday at 4125 Washington Road.
The scene was clear Friday, but it was a mess the day before after the tanker train hit the front of the truck and spun it counterclockwise.
Miraculously, no one was hurt.
The driver jumped out of the truck a moment before the crash and had to run to run to get to a safe distance.
Watch as a tanker train hits a truck after the crossing arm came down on the vehicle in Evans, Ga.
Deputies’ report on the incident blamed the truck driver, Abas Ahmed Farah, of Kansas City, Mo., for the accident that damaged the 2013 Frei Cascadia truck owned by Prime Ontime Inc.
The truck had stopped on the railroad crossing facing south on a private drive at the plant, according to deputies.
Meanwhile, CSX train 559 was speeding eastward on the tracks, carrying tanker cars.
Deputies said while the truck was on the tracks, the crossing arm came down between the cab and the trailer.
As the train neared, video shows Farah jumping out of the truck just before the locomotive struck the front of the semi.
Farah had stopped on the tracks while the warning signals and crossing arms were active, according to deputies.
They concluded Farah was at fault for the crash, which broke a water line and spilled oil and fuel from the truck, bringing cleanup crews from the county and an environmental team from CSX to the site.
Columbia County spokeswoman Cassidy Harris said the county supports as much as is needed in emergency operations. When determining what resources are initially needed, dispatchers make the decision. Every situation is different, Harris said.
The National Transportation Safety Board says it’s not involved in the investigation.
The accident probably could have been much worse, considering that a spark could have been thrown off by the train as it tried to come to a stop.
That spark could have created a fireball just from what was spilled by the truck.
It’s unclear what was in train’s tanker cars, but signs on them marked the contents as corrosive and flammable.
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