On Saturday, shortly before noon, a serious accident occurred in Daugavpils between a passenger train and a car. The traffic accident was also recorded by a video camera located near the railway tracks.
The Honda car was moving fairly steadily towards the railway crossing on Motora Street. The driver, apparently, was not in much of a hurry — the car did not brake, and it seemed that the gas pedal was not used for a quicker crossing. Every action has consequences, and in this case, they turned out to be extremely destructive, reports the program Degpunktā (TV3).
The train tore the car into hundreds of pieces, however, the body, although turned into a pile of metal, remained intact. The driver inside miraculously survived and was taken to the hospital after the accident.
Local residents say that the accident will long remain in their memory: "I heard the train, and then a crash. After that, I only saw the rescuers."
If those living nearby clearly heard the sound of the collision, the question arises — what did the train passengers feel and hear? One of them that day was former Latvia national football team player Yuri Zhigaev — he recounted that there were only two minutes left until the Daugavpils station.
"There was no strong impact, at least we didn’t feel it — we were in another part of the train. But those people who were sitting on the side where the car was — they felt as if stones (...) saw parts of the car. Then the train stopped, and it seems no one was allowed to leave for about fifteen minutes," Zhigaev said.
When passengers were finally allowed to leave the carriages, they went to inspect the aftermath — parts of the car were scattered across the grass and tracks. The front carriage was also significantly damaged, and a Honda part was stuck in it.
"I was probably going home to relatives for Easter — and then this situation. It’s clear that everyone was thinking about what happened to the car and the people inside," Zhigaev recalls.
The crossing is not equipped with a barrier, only a warning signal. Nevertheless, as local residents report, drivers here are usually quite cautious.
"Nothing like this has ever happened there. I don’t know how he didn’t notice that a train was approaching," says a local resident.
"I think it’s a classic situation — he was probably on his phone. As far as I understand, there are no barriers there, only red signals. He didn’t notice and just drove on," Zhigaev suggested.
The police will determine why the driver provoked the collision with the train.
