HALIFAX, N.C. (AP) — When it was time to visit her father for spring break, Alexis Pearce decided to take the train rather than driving.

Three weeks earlier, the 22-year-old Duke University student had been in a serious car accident and she didn't want to take any chances.

But her choice turned out to be an unnerving one: The Amtrack train she was riding in Monday hit a tractor-trailer stuck on the tracks as it tried to negotiate a difficult left-hand turn in the North Carolina town of Halifax.

The crash injured the conductor and at least 54 of the train's 212 passengers. Pearce was fortunate and escaped injury.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol says most of the passengers were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. The truck driver was not injured.

(Story by: Emery P. Dalesio, Martha Waggoner, The Associated Press)

 

 

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