CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The baby involved in a fatal car accident with a train Wednesday also was involved in a vehicle accident in which her father died several weeks ago, Jim Wells Sheriff's Office deputies said.
The baby's grandmother died after her car was hit by a train on a private road near Hwy. 44 in Jim Wells County on Wednesday morning.
Texas Department of Public Safety Public Information Sgt. Harold "Rob" Mallory said 46-year-old Corina Salinas and the 1-year-old baby girl were in a Chrysler 300 driving southbound on the road toward the highway.
When Salinas went to cross the track, the train -- which was traveling eastbound -- hit the car's passenger side and pushed it onto the grass alongside the highway.
The conductor told DPS investigators the vehicle was stopped on the track and didn't move even after the train sounded its horn several times.
The woman was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The baby was also taken to the hospital as a precaution, Mallory said.
3NEWS crew on-site said there are no crossing arms or lights and bells at the train crossing, only signs.
Jim Wells County Sheriff Daniel Bueno said crossings like this are a worry for him all over the county.
"Some of these county roads, they're very dangerous if you're not paying attention," he said. "Some of them do not have the protective arms, or what they call the safety levers, to protect vehicles from crossing."
The sheriff said not enough drivers obey the laws at such crossings.
"I know that I have been at several locations within the city limits where you have vehicles in a line trying to cross over," Bueno said. "And the one in the very front tries to go around the bars that are trying to prevent the vehicles from crossing."
Multiskilled journalist Michael Gibson contributed to this developing story. 3NEWS will provide updates as they become available.
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