GREAT FALLS — A 41-year-old woman and her dog died on Saturday after being hit by a freight train just east of Chinook.
The Blaine County Sheriff's Office received a call from BNSF about the incident that happened at Lodge Creek at around 5 p.m., at approximately the same that a man called to report his wife had been hit by a train. First responders arrived and found the woman and dog underneath the train.
The woman had gotten out of the vehicle to photograph a pheasant. She then took a dog she was training to smell the area where the pheasant had been. A news release from the Blaine County Sheriff's Office says she didn't see or hear the westbound train coming as she walked with her dog on the train tracks along U.S. Highway 2. She and her dog were hit and killed upon impact.
The woman's body was removed from the train tracks by fire and ambulance crews and delivered to Wilderness Funeral Home.
The accident caused traffic delays along the highway for several hours. The scene was cleared around 10 p.m.
The name of the woman has not yet been released; we will update you if we get more information.
