Train-car collision kills Purdy woman, grandchildren airlifted to Cox South

A Purdy woman was killed and her grandchildren injured in a car-train collision 4:22 p.m. on Washington Avenue in Purdy.

According to the Highway Patrol report, a 2000 Honda Accord driven by Fransisca Perez Salas, 59, Purdy, failed to yield at a railroad crossing and was struck by a Missouri-Arkansas Railroad General Electric SD70 locomotive driven by Michael D. Richardson, 51, Lowell, Arkansas.

The crossing was marked by a crossbuck sign and pedestrian bell.








Barry County Deputy Coroner Gary Swearingen pronounced Salas dead at the scene.

Two passengers, a three-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl were airlifted to Cox South Hospital, Springfield, to be treated for serious injuries.

The fatality was the 13th this year for Highway Patrol Troop D.