INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Authorities say an 11-year-old girl's leg was amputated after she was struck by a freight train on the west side of Indianapolis around 2:50 p.m. Monday.
Wayne Township firefighters and medics responded to the scene to find the 11-year-old girl in the care of IMPD Sgt. Matt Morgan and a family member. Firefighters say she had been struck by an eastbound CSX train between Lynhurst Drive and Holt Road.
The accident happened near Garden City Elementary School.
The girl was taken to Riley Hospital for Children in critical condition. The Wayne Township Fire Department said she was talking to rescuers before being taken to the hospital.
Firefighters say the quick actions of Ofc. Morgan to treat the victim's injuries may have saved her life. They say he crossed through a creek and climbed steep terrain to get to the girl and care for her until medics could arrive.
"Crews knew they would be unable to carry her down the same path they had traveled to access her," the Wayne Township Fire Department wrote in a release. "With the clock ticking, they located a small safer dirt path on the opposite side of the tracks leading down to a residence on Bertha St. Responders brought the ambulance to that and quickly transferred her to the ambulance for further care and immediate transport to Riley Children's Hospital."
CSX railroad says the train was traveling from the Avon Yard in Indianapolis to Cincinnati when it struck the child. The railroad is assisting investigators.
