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Boy, 8, hit by train in Delco

He was struck just south of Philadelphia International Airport.

Investigators at the scene where an 8-year-old boy was hit by a freight train.
Investigators at the scene where an 8-year-old boy was hit by a freight train.Read more(PHOTO: YC.NEWS/NIK HATZIEFSTATHIOU)

An 8-year-old boy was struck by a freight train just south of Philadelphia International Airport in Delaware County, authorities said.

The incident was reported at 5:46 p.m. in Tinicum Township, on the tracks behind the Clarion Hotel at 76 Industrial Highway, a county dispatcher said.

Tinicum Township police said the CSX train traveling west on CSX tracks "ran over" the boy's leg. Early reports were that the boy, who lives in Tinicum, suffered a significant leg injury. He was extricated and taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center with a "lower body injury," police said without elaborating. His name was not released.

The investigation was being handled by the Conrail Police Department.

Conrail spokeswoman Jocelyn Hill said the train was traveling from South Philadelphia to Marcus Hook and made a mandatory stop at the bridge crossing Darby Creek. The accident occurred when the train started moving again, she said.

It was the third time in the last two months that a child in the Philadelphia area was hit by a train and suffered a traumatic leg injury.

On June 7, an 11-year-old girl was struck and dragged by a slow-moving CSX freight train near 56th Street and Grays Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. Sienna Ward lost a leg in the accident and part of her other leg later due to an infection. She was described as an avid dancer who studied ballet, hip-hop, and jazz.

On July 19, a 14-year-old boy was hit by a slow-moving CSX freight train in Frankford. Mustafa Elmitwalli, who just finished the eighth grade at Baldi Middle School, lost his right leg.