Fiery Union Pacific Train Crash in Oklahoma Kills Three

Three Union Pacific train crew members were killed on June 24, 2012 when two freight trains collided head-on and burst into flames in the panhandle of Oklahoma. The fatal Union Pacific train crash occurred 10:08 a.m. on Sunday morning near the town of Goodwell, which is roughly 300 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are currently gathering data to figure out what caused the trains to crash. The Safety Board's preliminary findings show that the train signals were working properly at the time of the crash. It is unclear why one of the trains failed to pull off onto a side track prior to the crash, leading Federal Railroad Administration official to speculate that human error might have caused the head-on collision. NTSB officials will also be looking at phone records of both train crews to make certain that no one was distracted by mobile devices.  

Each train had two crew members -- an engineer and a conductor -- onboard. Authorities say engineers Dan Hall and John Hall were killed in the crash, along with conductor Brian Stone. The other conductor, Juan Zurita, was able to jump off his train shortly before the collision and was virtually unharmed in the incident. The bodies of the three victims were sent to the medical examiner's in Oklahoma City on Tuesday.  

According to the Associated Press, the NTSB will likely release a preliminary report in a couple of weeks, and it may take upwards of a year for them to finish their final report.