Train collides with mobile crane in Lviv Oblast, killing veteran train driver

Updated at 10:41 a.m.: The driver operating the mobile crane died on the way to the hospital. The death toll has risen to two people.

According to information published by the railway company, a train collided with a mobile crane. The car drove through a railway crossing, ignoring signals to stop.

The assistant driver is in the hospital. No train passengers were injured in the incident.

The driver killed in the incident was a veteran of the Russian war on Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia Chair, Oleksandr Pertsovsky, clarified.

“Our train driver has died. Doctors boarded the train to try and save him, but there was no chance,” Pertsovsky said. “The deceased was our veteran. He returned from the front and went right back to work.”

“He was killed by the reckless actions of someone who likes to ‘bend the rules’.”

The train is now being towed off the tracks. Pertsovskyi added that Ukrzaliznytsia will seek the maximum possible penalty for the crane truck driver, who drove onto the tracks despite the warning signals, violating traffic rules.

The accident occurred near Lyubinstsi village, near Stryi, according to journalist Vitalii Hlahola. The accident also de-railed the train.

Rescuers used specialized equipment to extricate the deceased driver from the damaged locomotive, State Emergency Service reported.

On April 21, a truck drove onto railroad tracks in Lviv Oblast and collided with a Przemysl-Kyiv train. The accident occurred after the driver “failed” to heed railroad crossing signals warning him to stop.