Train kills man running on trestle

A 24-year-old man was struck and killed by a passenger train Friday afternoon as he walked on a railroad trestle over the Lewis River south of Woodland.

The man, who was not identified but is believed to be a local resident, was walking south looking for a place to swim with another man when an Amtrak train en route from Seattle to Vancouver approached at 2:20 p.m., according to Gus Melonas, spokesman for BNSF Railway.

Melonas said the men began running toward the south end of the 300-foot trestle to get off it after they saw the train approaching.

Just before the train passed the two near the south end of the bridge, however, one man ran and tried to cross the track ahead of the train.

He was hit by the locomotive and killed, Melonas said. The other man was knocked down by the force of the passing train but was not struck.

It was the ninth such fatality in the state of Washington this year, Melonas said.

Times staff and news services