Tragic selfie reveals
Tragedy on the Tracks
In 2011, teens Essa Ricker, Kelsea Webster, and Savannah Webster were struck by a train while taking a selfie on the tracks in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah. Unaware of an approaching locomotive, they were hit before they could react.
Engineer Michael Anderson and operator John Anderson were aboard the Union Pacific train. “They were in their own little world,” John said. Despite sounding the horn, the girls didn’t move. “We watched in horror…until they disappeared from our sight,” he added.
The train stopped a quarter mile later. John found Essa and Kelsea dead. Savannah, only 13, was still alive. “I told her everything would be OK and she relaxed a little,” he recalled. She died three days later in the hospital.
Both men, fathers of teenage girls themselves, were deeply affected. “What happened was very intense,” said Michael. “I have to carry it the rest of my life.”
