One person lost their life in a collision between a train and a semi tanker hauling manure near Random Lake on Wednesday. The incident, a few minutes after 2 p.m., brought Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Deputies to the scene on Abbott Drive around 2/3 of a mile west of Highway 57. Officials say the semi truck tanker was hauling about 5,000 gallons of liquid manure west on Abbott Drive when it entered the railroad crossing and was struck by a northbound Wisconsin Southern train. That intersection has only a yield sign at the crossing, but no lights or gates.
After the train struck the semi the truck ended up on its side in the ditch, while the locomotive and 6 of the 22 cars derailed. Only one car was breached, losing a portion of its load of non-toxic plastic pellets. There was no hazard to the community, however.
The 66-year-old Kewaskum man driving the semi was deceased at the scene, the only injury resulting from the incident that has closed Abbott drive west of Highway 57, potentially for several days, while the Wisconsin State Patrol investigates the incident, the train cars cleared and tracks are repaired.
The victim was identified on Thursday as 66-year-old Jeffery S. Blankenheim of Kewaskum, WI.
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