Three children and their mother were killed when their vehicle crashed with a freight train on their way to a Halloween parade in Illinois on Friday, leaving one more child seriously wounded.

Late on Thursday, the family of five was on their way to a Halloween parade in Vandalia, a small town of about 70 miles from St. Louis in southern Illinois when their vehicle was hit by a CSX freight train bound eastward at around 6:48 p.m.

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According to Vandalia Police Chief Jeff Ray, the family's vehicle was crossing the town's Main Street crossing when the gates were down, resulting to the crash that destroyed most of the passenger side of the family's vehicle.

"I don't know if she wasn't familiar with the crossing or what happened," Ray explained saying that investigators believed that the group was on their way to the famous parade that usually draws many visitors from other towns.

Included in the victims pronounced dead on scene was 35-year-old Crystal D. Anna, who had been reported to be the mother of the four children and was driving the vehicle, as well as three of her children namely 10-year-old Abby Wisnasky, 13-year-old Drake Wisnasky, and 18-year-old Alyssa Sewell.

The surviving passenger of the vehicle was identified to be 9-year-old Dylan Wisnasky, the youngest of Anna's children.

Dylan was immediately airlifted to a hospital in St. Louis because he sustained major wounds though his condition.

"The cars moved ahead of her. She pulled up to go over the tracks, and the car in front of her stopped. That's when the lights started flashing and then boom, the train hit them," Vandalia resident Desiree Fischer explained noting the she was there when the crash happened.

Ray said the train bound east was running at the regular 46 or 49 miles per hour, well below the railroad's speed limit of 59 mph, when it collided with the family's minivan.

Tagsfreight train, Halloween parade, Illinois