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Coroner: Teens killed by train were playing game

7:41 PM, Jun 5, 2012   |    comments
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POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (AP) - Two girls struck and killed by an Amtrak train were playing a deadly game.

The accident happened early Tuesday at a railroad crossing near Poplar Bluff in southeast Missouri. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the victims were 15-year-old Victoria Swanson and 17-year-old Haley Whitmer, both of Poplar Bluff. A third girl is in serious condition.

Butler County Coroner Jim Akers says the teens were playing a game called "Ghost Train," in which a car is parked on the tracks purportedly awaiting a "ghost train" that wrecked many years ago. Occupants let the windows fog up in the scary setting. If a real train approaches, they drive off.

But Akers said the Jeep wouldn't restart. Relatives told Akers the girls had played the game many times before.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Associated Press