In 2011, three teenage girls — Essa Ricker, Kelsea Webster, and Savannah Webster — were tragically killed by a train in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah, while taking a selfie on the tracks. Kelsea and Savannah were sisters. Unaware of an oncoming locomotive, they were struck despite the engineer sounding the horn.
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Engineer John Anderson and colleague Michael Anderson watched helplessly as the train hit the girls. Essa and Kelsea died at the scene; Savannah, 13, was critically injured and died three days later in the hospital.
The girls’ families and the train crew were devastated. Savannah’s mother later urged others to take rail safety seriously, calling the incident preventable.
