Pregnant aspiring model struck and killed by train 'while posing on tracks for photo shoot'
by Andrew Abba Festus
A
pregnant teenager was struck and killed by a freight train while she
posed for a photo shoot on the tracks in Texas, say reports.
Fredzania
Thompson was killed on Friday (10 March) with authorities saying that
she was standing between two sets of tracks when a train struck her in
Navasota, around 70 miles (112km) northwest of Houston.
The
19-year-old, who was engaged and, according to her fiancé, pregnant was
hoping to launch a modelling career when she was hit by a train
operated by the freight company, Union Pacific.
Her
fiancé, Darnell Chatman, 25, told Texas-based The Eagle newspaper that
she called him around a fortnight ago to tell him the good news.
"She said, 'You're going to be a dad again,'" he said.
It
was reported that she was struck close to where two train tracks met
and had noticed that a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) train
was coming.
As she moved over to another track she was struck by a Union Pacific freight train.
Union
Pacific spokesman Jeff De Graff, told the Navasota Examiner that the
train driver had alerted Thompson and a photographer with the horn as
they approached and began an emergency stop.
"Basically,
you have two railroad tracks there. One is Burlington Northern to the
west, and one is Union Pacific to the east, and she was in between the
two tracks," Navasota Assistant City Manager Shawn Myatt said.
"Burlington
Northern had a train on their track coming and she turned back to the
east to walk across the Union Pacific track and walked right in front of
the Union Pacific train that was heading south."
Despite being rushed to hospital she died soon afterwards.
Thompson,
also known as 'Zanie', was once a talented athlete, according to
tributes, and had put her education on hold to pursue a modelling career
The
teenager leaves behind her fiancé and her devastated family, including
her mum, Hakamie Stevenson, and five younger brothers and sisters.
"She
was more interested in modelling," her mother said. "That's definitely
what she wanted to do. It's what she had started to do the day she was
deceased."
Friends
set up a GoFundMe page in her memory hoping to raise money for her
funeral. It reads: "We are asking for support from our local community
and surrounding areas to help raise money for the funeral of Fredzania
Thompson.
"Anyone
that knows her she always had that beautiful smile at every sight of
her. She was one of the most beautiful caring person you could ever
meet. If you ever needed someone to talk to she was always there she was
a truly good person."
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