Three friends missed a haunting detail in a selfie that might have saved their lives.
It’s not unusual for a group of friends to be so focused on getting a photo that they practically forget all else around them. Sadly, the consequences are seldom so dire as when a trio of Utah girls lost their lives in truly tragic circumstances.
The incident, which rocked a local community, took place back in 2011, when teens Essa Ricker, Kelsea Webster, and Kelsea’s younger sister Savannah, ventured past the Covered Bridge Canyon crossing, a few minutes away from Spanish Fork.
Utah County sheriff Sgt Spencer Cannon would later explain how the three friends stopped to wave at engineers on the Utah Railway train, completely unaware that a Union Pacific carrier was headed in the opposite direction.
The gap between the two train was only around three to four feet, and Essa, Kelsea and Savannah were all struck. Essea and Kelsea were believed to have been killed instantly, while Savannah was rushed to hospital for life-saving treatment.
Tragically, she had sustained catastrophic brain injuries. After doctors informed her heartbroken parents that she would not recover, life support was withdrawn.
“We spoke to the doctors today and they informed us that Savvy’s brain injuries were too great,” Jayna Webster, mom of Savannah and Kelsea, explained at the time.
“Even though they’ve had done everything possible, Savannah will not be able to recover any further. We will keep her on life support till the end of the day, but it’s time to say goodbye, for now, to an angel that walked among us.”
An eerie selfie taken just moments before the trio were struck by the train was uploaded to Facebook by Savannah.
“Standing right by a train ahaha this is awesome!!!!” the teen wrote.
Even more disturbing, the photo in question shows a train approaching, its bright yellow lights burning fiercely. Sadly, it’s believed the girls failed to hear the train’s horn blasting.
John Anderson, a train conductor working at the time, said: “They were in their own little world.”
“We watched in horror as we got closer,” John added. “We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward.”
When the train came to a stop, John jumped down onto the tracks and immediately ran to the girls. He soon realized that the first two girls he reached had no pulse.
Savannah was alive, though gravely injured.
“I told her everything would be OK and she relaxed a little,” the conductor recalled.
“I hoped she would make it and for some reason I really thought she would.”
