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'Heroes' Who Rescued Elderly Couple Before Train Crash Identified

BRIDGEWATER (CBS) - Two men rescued a couple moments before an MBTA train struck their car during the blizzard Thursday.

Ray Armstead and Ryan Saba were in the right place at the right time when they rescued the couple, whose car was destroyed when it was struck by a Commuter Rail train on Broad Street shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday.

"We couldn't see it but we could hear it," Saba said.

The couple in their 60s were stuck between the railroad crossing arms on Route 18 during white out conditions.

"So we jumped out and tried pushing them out cause they were stuck pretty bad struggling spinning out," Saba said.

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Investigators at the crash scene after a Commuter Rail train struck a car. (Photo courtesy: Marc Vasconcellos/The Enterprise)

"They were unaware that the train was even coming if we weren't there something bad probably would have happened," Armstead said.

Armstead and Saba were heading out to grab some food when they pulled up behind the stuck car, saying it all happened within a minute.

Saba got the husband out fast but the woman was still in the passenger seat and wobbly on her feet.

"We both picked her up and dragged her over to my truck got her inside," Saba said. "That's when the train hit."

"We moved her out of the way so she wasn't going to get hit by the train," Armstead said.

"Yea we all had to duck once the train came too," Armstead said.

The car got thrown about 20 feet and hit an MBTA control shed. Nobody was injured.

"We're just glad that they're alive and everybody's OK," Saba said.

The MBTA Transit Police is investigating.

"Well done gentlemen," Bridgewater Police said in a tweet, thanking the two men for their quick-thinking actions that saved the couple.

In another tweet, police called the two men "The heroes of Bridgewater."

 

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