Woman, 2 Grandchildren Killed After Amtrak Train Collides With SUV

A Florida woman and her two grandsons were killed after an Amtrak train collided with their SUV in Palm Beach over the weekend.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office identified the victims as Valery Jo Rintamaki, 58, Tristan Prestano, 10 and Skyler Prestano, 8, said the Palm Beach Post.

Both children are students of New Horizons Elementary School in Wellington, it added.

Rintamaki was driving a Subaru Outback and was headed west on North Gate Road after making a left from Beeline Highway. She slowed down as she started to cross the tracks, but failed to yield for the wesbound train, which in turn hit the left side of the vehicle.

The Silver Meteor Train 97, which carried around 200 passengers from Miami to New York City, dragged Rinatamaki's car for a half mile before coming to a halt.

None of the train's passengers were reported to have been injured by the collission, according to ABC News.

Fire rescue spokesman Captain Albert Borroto told the Sun-Sentinel that the accident happened around 2:00 p.m. Saturday, while friends of the victims said Rintamaki was driving both Prestanos to a camping trip near the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area.

While the railroad crossing has signs, it has no gate and the tracks are only about 25 yards from the turn off Beeline Highway. Rintamaki's friend, Donna Cumella, abhorred this lack of safety and said that what happened to her friend was a “senseless act to happen.”

The same impact was felt by Rintamaki's husband, David Peat. He told ABC News that he was “shocked” to find that there was no structure that could prevent a car from “unwittingly driving into the path of an oncoming train.”

“Everybody has been saying for years we need some sort of crossing gate. It's dangerous there. Trains come flying by,” pointed Earl Megonigal.

Megonigal, a check station operator at the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area, said the impact of the Amtrak train to Rintamaki's SUV sounded like a “shotgun going off.”