SPANISH FORK — A family and community are mourning and searching for solutions after a 5-year-old boy was hit and killed by a train Sunday.

Sesia Rivera sent her son, daughter and nephew down from their apartment to play Sunday evening at the Diamond Fork playground, visible from her apartment window.

Rivera went to investigate when she saw a train had stopped on the tracks that border the apartment complex. She found out that children had been involved in the incident and then saw her daughter and nephew.

That's when Rivera knew something had happened to her son, Emanuel.

"You never imagine it's going to happen to you," she said. "It feels like I'm living like a nightmare and … he's sleeping and that he's going to wake up. It hasn't hit me yet that he's gone. I don't think that it ever will. But I have the other two (kids) that I have to move on for."

Emanuel, a little boy with a bright smile and full of life, was the youngest nephew of nine cousins in a close-knit family. After spending some time with her parents in Puerto Rico, Rivera moved her children back to Utah, close to family members.

Emanuel, his sister and cousin were playing on the tracks near dusk Sunday when a train rounded a corner from the north. Although the sister and cousin were able to escape, Emanuel "froze" on the tracks, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe engineer told police, and was hit by the train.

He later died from his injuries.

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5-year-old boy dies after being hit by train in Spanish Fork

A 5-year-old boy has died Sunday after he was struck by a freight train in Spanish Fork. The boy and a friend were apparently playing on the train track.

"If there is something we can do to make it safer, we're more than happy to look into that," said Spanish Fork Police Lt. Matt Johnson.

Johnson is part of a safe school route committee in the Nebo School District that includes officials from the Utah Department of Transportation, parents, the city engineering office, school district risk management and local police.

They will meet and discuss ways to make the crossing safer, he said, which may involve stationing a crossing guard at the tracks during school hours or having more police patrols in the neighborhood to deter any other children who may play on the tracks.

The apartment complex lies to the west of the railroad tracks, and a retaining pond and two elementary schools lie to the east. The tracks are bordered by a stone fence on one side and a chain-link fence on the other.

Signs warn those approaching to stop, look and listen before crossing, and bells sound and arms lower when a train is approaching.

Federal law requires train engineers to sound a horn when approaching a crossing area unless they are nearing a designated quiet zone, according to Lena Kent, public affairs director with Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

The neighborhood is not a quiet zone, Johnson said, so the engineer would have been required to sound the horn on the train. It is unclear whether that happened Sunday evening.

"Right now you have the issue that exists, which is the apartments are here and they're not going to move," said Seth Perrins, Spanish Fork assistant city manager.

Perrins said his heart goes out to the family and he hopes that one lesson parents can take from Sunday's incident is to warn their children of the dangers of trains and role play with them.

Emanuel loved trains, Rivera said, so she often warned him of their dangers and told him to never get close to one.

"We tell him all the time. We tell him never to go there," she said. "He loves trains, and I was like, 'You can't get close to a train.'"

But kids will be kids, Rivera said, and don't always listen.

"I think about it now and I feel guilty because I feel like it's my fault for not being there, and not telling him to stay home and not going downstairs to play," she said through tears. "Maybe nothing would have happened. But I can't take it back anymore."

The Nebo Education Foundation has set up an account in Emanuel's name. Those interested in giving to the family can visit any Zions Bank branch.*

*KSL.com has not verified the accuracy of the information provided with respect to the account nor does ksl.com assure that the monies deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

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