Three people have been killed after an Amtrak train crashed into a car near Brentwood, California on Sunday afternoon.
The fatal collision happened at about 1pm near the intersection of Orwood Road and Bixler Road, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Authorities say the vehicle, a four-door sedan, had pulled into a long rural dirt driveway when the Amtrak train rammed into it.
The car then careened off the road and hit another vehicle, eventually coming to a rest approximately 60 feet away.
Tragically there have been at least three reported fatalities among the passengers in the car.
The three victims were all women over the age of 50, The Mercury News reports.
A child and two men were also hospitalised with serious injuries, while another person suffered moderate injuries.
They were rushed to the John Muir Medical Centre after the crash according to ABC News.
At least two bodies were seen lying on a gravel embankment roughly 25 feet from the vehicle, according to local reports.
The five-car Amtrak passenger train could be seen stopped about a quarter of a mile from the site of the crash.
Officials say there were 80 passengers on the train at the time of the collision, but none were injured.
The crash is under investigation and further details will be provided.
Fatima Jimenez, who was attending a nearby fundraiser, ran to the scene of the crash to find two women dead on the ground as well as a child covered in blood.
She told local media she helped someone else pull a man from the wreckage of the car.
"People fainted when they heard what was going on," she said.
"It was chaotic. There are no words to describe it - I'm still in shock."
East Contra Costa Fire Department officials had already been called out to the same train crossing twice last year because it does not have a traffic guard, reports say.
Amtrak is a passenger railroad service providing medium and long-distance inter-city rail service throughout the USA and Canada.
