WILLISTON, N.D. (KFGO) – Separate crashes in northwestern North Dakota claimed the lives of two boys and two girls from Williston Monday night.
According to the State Patrol, shortly after 8:15 p.m. northeast of Williston, a 17-year-old boy from Williston was driving a pickup and approaching a railroad crossing. The boy tried to cross the tracks before an Amtrak train crossed the highway.
The train crashed into the pickup, pushing it down the tracks a short distance before it went off the tracks. The driver was taken to a Minot hospital with serious injuries.
There were two passengers in the vehicle, one 17-year-old boy and one 15-year-old boy. The 17-year-old was taken to the hospital in Williston where he died. The 15-year-old died at the scene.
None of the boys was wearing a seatbelt.
Shortly before midnight near Berthold, a 34-year-old woman from Williston lost control of her pickup on an icy stretch of Highway 2. The pickup went into the median and overturned.
Two girls, 12- and 13-years-old, were ejected from the pickup.
One of the girls landed on the road and was run over by a semi truck. The other girl landed in the median. Both girls died at the scene.
The woman driving was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
No one in the vehicle was wearing a seatbelt. The crash is under investigation.
All of the children who died in the crashes were students in the Williston School District. The District said they have mobilized their crisis team to provide support and counseling at Williston High School and Bakken Elementary.
Williston Mayor Howard Klug issued a statement, saying the city’s resource officers have been instructed to do whatever they can to comfort the people affected by the crashes.
“We will do whatever we can to support those families, as well as the residents of the City of Williston that are going through this tragedy,” Klug said. “We will get through this together, because that’s what Williston does. We are a strong community, and we band together to support each other, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
