By ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE
A mother and child were killed near Te Puke last night when their station wagon was hit by a train on what locals say is a dangerous crossing.
The local woman and her young daughter were believed to be heading along Collins Lane to Baypac, a kiwifruit packer, to
offload some rubbish when an express freight train slammed into the driver's side.
The car was shunted about 60m along the track toward Tauranga before being thrown to one side when it tumbled through a fence and into a paddock.
"This crossing is very bad," said a shocked Chris Chaplin, who lives about 70m away and was first on the scene.
He was horrified to find the body of a Baypac workmate and one of her three children.
"I just dived in there, searching for pulses," Mr Chaplin said.
He frantically checked the wreckage in case there were more people in the car.
The Chaplin family were entertaining nine children who were having fun "getting wet and dirty in the dark" while a barbecue was being prepared.
Although the crossing itself was obscured by his house, Mr Chaplin said, the youngsters were counting the wagons on a long train as it passed slowly heading from Te Puke toward Mt Maunganui.
Soon after, a neighbour rushed in to say the train had stopped and he thought it might have hit a car. Mr Chaplin grabbed a torch and ran to investigate.
"Sure enough it was a car," he said later.
At night, train headlights blended in with the lights of vehicles travelling on the nearby main highway which ran parallel with the railway line, said Mr Chaplin.
"We didn't hear a bang - nothing. The wind was so strong."
The train driver was shocked but unhurt. He would not comment at the scene.
