6 people dead, including 3 children, after a train hit an SUV, smashing it 'like a soft drink can,' Florida sheriff says

Six people are dead, including three children, after a train struck an SUV as it crossed railroad tracks in Hillsborough County, Florida, Saturday evening, according to the sheriff's office.

Responders had been left shaken by the resulting scene of carnage, which left the Cadillac Escalade SUV looking "like a soft drink can that's been smashed," Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister told a news conference Saturday.

The freight train had been traveling at over 55 mph when it hit the SUV, which was taking seven people to a quinceañera party, Chronister said.

Video footage taken from a camera on the front of the train appeared to show the SUV's driver pulling up to the crossing and driving slowly across, without stopping to look both ways, the sheriff said.

The conductor of the train did everything he could to slow down as the vehicle approached, as well as sounding long horns and flashing the train's lights in warning, he said. A witness parked by the tracks said he also hit his horn to alert the SUV driver, Chronister said.

After being struck, "the SUV, we can see from the video, begins to catapult and flip violently several times before it landed a distance from this crossing," Chronister told reporters.

Deputies and first responders arrived at the scene of the collision just before 7 p.m. Saturday and immediately began rescue efforts, Chronister said.