2 severely injured after car collides with train in Faribault

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Two people were severely injured after a car collided with a train near the Faribault Woolen Mills in Faribault, Minnesota.

Just before 9:30 a.m. on the 1400 block of 2nd Avenue NW, an Infinity SUV was driving southbound when it collided with a train backing up across the street.

The SUV slammed into the back of the train, leaving a large piece wedged onto the boxcar. The driver of the vehicle, 49-year-old Shan Roehrick was pinned into her vehicle and was extricated by paramedics.

"She was stuck," witness Alicia Crooks told Fox 9. "Her head was sandwiched between the windshield and the steering wheel."

The train was hauling three boxcars with railroad employee Damien North-O'Brien, 26, standing on a ladder near the back of the train. North-O'Brien also suffered severe injuries.

Both victims were airlifted to nearby hospitals by medical choppers.

The intersection with the railroad had no gates or lights.

Workers in the area told Fox 9 that small trains come and go from the food plant often throughout the week, but they had never seen an incident like this occur.

State Patrol continues to investigate the incident to figure out how and why the collision occurred.