Train kills girl, 17, who was talking on phone

A 17-year-old girl was killed by a train Monday morning in Kent as she crossed railroad tracks while talking on her cellphone.

Witnesses told police the girl was walking across the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks near First Avenue and Cole Street while talking on her cellphone when she was hit and killed at 11:44 a.m. by a southbound Amtrak train.

Kent police spokesman Paul Peterson said the girl was not at a marked crossing when she was struck.

"This appears to be a very bad accident," he said.

The accident occurred along a stretch of the rail line about 200 yards north of a marked railroad crossing on James Street. The area is surrounded by businesses and apartments, Peterson said.

Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF Railway, said rail traffic was shut down until shortly before 1 p.m. He said the girl's death was the fifth fatality on Washington state rails this year involving people who were not at marked railroad crossings.