JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department identified a girl who was hit and killed by a Union Pacific train in Jefferson County Sunday afternoon.
A day after the incident, deputies identified the girl as 15-year-old Shianne N. Haines of Hillsboro, Missouri.
Shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, emergency crews responded to the scene near Highway P between Hematite and De Soto.
A group of five teenagers was using a railroad bridge over Joachim Creek to jump into the water. Investigators said one of the teens had already jumped off the bridge at least once when a Union Pacific train came down the tracks. Three of the five jumped into the water below. Two stayed up on the rail line. One of them survived. Haines didn’t make it. She was a freshman at Hillsboro High School.
“It’s not uncommon for kids to be swimming in the creek but it doesn’t sound like there were any adults, at least in the immediate area,” said Grant Bissell, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff's office also wanted to remind people that it is illegal to trespass around the railroad tracks, which are railroad property. Warning signs are posted at most of the crossings.
"Things like this, they can be avoided if you're careful and you follow those no trespassing posted signs," Bissell said. "You never want to see something like this happen."
Editor's note: A previous version of this story said the train was an Amtrak Train. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department now says the train was a Union Pacific train.
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