This post was updated on 5/26/23 with new information.

Two people were killed and two others injured in a collision with a locomotive Thursday afternoon in Clark County’s Richwoods community south of Gum Springs.

The railroad crossing where the accident occurred connects Richwoods Road and Fisher Loop. The Gum Springs and Arkadelphia fire departments were summoned to the scene at 1:48 p.m.

According to an Arkansas State Police fatal crash summary, Chad M. Fryar, 37, of Malvern, was driving the vehicle involved in the collision: a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado, described by local authorities as a one-ton flatbed pickup truck. Fryar was air-lifted to Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.

Sheriff Jason Watson confirmed that two juveniles were deceased. A third juvenile was taken by a second helicopter to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The bodies of the two deceased juveniles were transported to the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

According to investigating state Trooper Kendrick Davis, as Fryar traveled across the tracks a northbound Union Pacific locomotive struck the passenger side of the vehicle, lodging the truck to the front of the train. Following the collision the train continued on its northbound path before it was able to come to a halt near the Richwoods Cemetery, about 1/2 mile from the location of the crash.

There are crossbuck stop signs on both sides of the tracks at that crossing, but no flashing lights or crossing gate.