Two people have reportedly been killed in Detroit after colliding with an Amtrak train while trying to beat it over a rail crossing.  

The incident happened early Tuesday when police were dispersing a drag race and car drifting gathering in the area, according to Fox2 Detroit. 

“A bunch of cars took off, sadly this particular vehicle in question continued speeding off at some point, makes it to the railroad tracks [and] attempts to outrun the train,” Detroit Police Chief James White said. 

The station reported that a man and a woman in their 20s, from the nearby cities of Wixom and Novi, died in the collision. 

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The rail crossing in Detroit, Michigan, where the car collided with an Amtrak train early Tuesday.
(Google Maps)

“Horrible, tragic, did not have to happen,” White said, according to Fox2 Detroit. “This drag racing and drifting situation is absolutely unacceptable.” 

A passenger on board the train told Fox2 Detroit that it “all of a sudden just stopped and then the lights went down,” following the collision. 

Photo of a Detroit, Michigan, police car.
(iStock)

The passenger also said that the train was stopped for at least three hours before continuing onward to Pontiac. 

Elsewhere in the U.S. on Tuesday, an Amtrak train traveling to Chicago derailed in Missouri after hitting a dump truck, killing at least four people. 

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A statement from the National Transportation Safety Board noted that a press conference regarding the Missouri crash will be held on Tuesday.