A 39-year-old employee of BNSF was killed Aug. 4 in a Tulsa railroad yard accident when the 2010 Kubota RTV in which she was a passenger was struck by a flatcar that rolled off a hump, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, as reported by the Tulsa World newspaper. The accident occurred about 2:15 a.m.
Pronounced dead at the scene, Deborah Ann Beeler died from multiple injuries. She was an employee of BNSF and a member of United Transportation Union Local 1289 since July 2005.
During a hump operation, the RTV was crossing BNSF’s Cherokee Yard Tracks when it was struck on the passenger side by the flatcar. The railroad car rolled off the hump by gravity. Pinned in the RTV for two hours, Beeler was freed by rescue workers from the Tulsa Fire Department.
The driver of the RTV, UTU Local 1289 member Randy Battenfield, 27, escaped injury, according to the Tulsa World. He became a union member July 1, just 35 days before the accident.
Since the start of 2011, Beeler is the fifth UTU member who has been killed in an accident while on duty. The mishap was the second yard accident in 2011.
(Source: UTU)
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