Coroner says 5 killed in train-van crash at dangerous South MS railroad crossing
Five people were killed and a sixth was injured Friday when a van collided with a freight train on the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway east of U.S. 49 in Wiggins, Stone County Coroner Wayne Flurry said.
Nobody on the train was injured. The injured van passenger was flown by helicopter to a hospital.
There is no railroad crossing gate on the tracks at Pump Branch Road, where the train and van collided, said Landon Orozco, a spokesman for the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
“CPKC is working with local officials as they investigate today’s tragic incident involving a CPKC freight train and a van that occurred in Stone County,” said CPKC spokesman Terry Cunha. “Our most sincere condolences go out to the families of the victims of this tragedy.”
U.S. 49 reopened just before 4 p.m., about three hours after the crash.
This is the third fatal accident at Pump Branch Road involving a vehicle-train collision. Reports attributed the two earlier accidents to drivers pulling onto crossings in front of trains.
In April 2023, a Kansas City Southern Railway train and van collided at Pump Branch Road, killing a 30-year-old female passenger and injuring three others, including the driver.
The most recent fatality on Pump Branch before Friday was on February 26, when the driver of a pickup truck and train collided. The driver, age unknown, was cut from the truck and airlifted to a hospital, but later died, according to the Stone County Enterprise.
A Kansas City Southern Railway freight train was involved in the April 2023 accident. A few days later, Canadian Pacific completed a merger with Kansas City Southern to form CPKC.
CPKC trains were involved in two fatal accidents in South Mississippi before Friday’s tragedy. In December 2023, a 38-year-old man died at the Fruitland Park Road railway intersection in Forrest County after pulling out in front of a train, a report to the Federal Railroad Administration said. And in December 2024, another train fatality occurred on Old Highway 49 in the McHenry community of Stone County when a Saucier man, 30, reportedly pulled his pickup onto the tracks.
“This is about seven or eight train wrecks here in the last five years,” said Ella Hall, who lives close to the site of the crash. “So when you hear the noise, you know what it is.”
This breaking news story will be updated, as warranted.
This story was originally published March 27, 2026 at 3:05 PM.
