UPDATED: June 19, 2018, 8:05 a.m.
An earlier version of this story reported the accident location as Midwest Lime. That was incorrect. The collision took place outside the Arkansas Lime Co. plant near Bethesda. We regret the error and thank the White River Now readers who alerted us to the incorrect information.
The train-truck collision on the crossing near a local lime plant outside Batesville closed the lane near the plant, knocked the train’s hopper off the tracks and turned the truck over on its side.
No one was injured in the mishap which occurred between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m today, according to Glen Willis, the coordinator of the Independence County Office of Emergency Management.,
The truck driver told Willis that he came to the crossing and looked both ways and then started across when he saw the train, but by then, it was too late. The truck was a bob truck pulling a trailer, and the train hit where the two were hooked together. The train was going back into the plant to take on another load of lime, according to Willis.
The coordinator said the accident occurred within 100 yards of the plant.
The train, according to Willis, should be — with some luck — back on the tracks along with the truck upright and the lane cleared for traffic before the day ends.
Images by Independence County Sheriff Shawn Stephens
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