DETROIT – On this day in 1942, a speeding passenger train struck a bus in Detroit, cutting it in two and killing 16 people.
Witnesses said the bus had driven past the flashing lights on Caniff Street near the Hamtramck border before it was hit.
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The bus had stopped for a northbound freight train, and after it passed, the bus began crossing the tracks but was hit by a southbound passenger train.
The front of the bus was thrown into Detroit and came to a stop after hitting an office building. The rear was “smashed to fragments and scattered,” and dragged for nearly a half mile, leaving a trail of debris and bodies.
Sixteen people were killed, including six children who were on their way to school, and 27 were injured.
At the time, the United States was rationing gasoline due to World War II, which resulted in a large increase in public transportation use. The bus, which had seats for 25 people, was carrying 45 people when it was struck.
Prosecutors argued that the bus was too crowded and cited a survivor who claimed that standing riders obscured the driver’s ability to look out.
Thirteen people were killed instantly, and three died shortly after. It took hours to recover the bodies and even longer to identify them. Some were so mangled that their genders could not be determined at first.
It remains one of the deadliest crashes in Michigan history.