CHAPIN, S.C. — Betsy Black lives in Chapin, not far from the railroad crossing at Dutch Fork Road and Walter McCartha Road.
"I do hear the sounds of the train; I hear the whistles of the train," she said.
On Saturday, investigators say a train smashed into a car crossing the tracks.
"I was praying as hard as I knew to pray," Black said. "I went walking toward the direction to see if there was anything I could do and saw that the car was over behind those woods right across from me, in the field."
The car had turned on it's side with the windows shattered and the driver's side doors crushed from impact.
Three girls were inside, according to Black, who believes they were teenagers.
"It was not a good scene; it was really not a good scene," she said. "Family members had started gathering around and, of course, they were, they were crying and they were trying to calm the girls down.... The people were trying to work and get them lifted out and taken out just as fast as they could."
According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, one person was airlifted to the hospital -- the other two occupants were driven there.
"Fortunately, they were all alive," Black said.
There are not arms or lights at the intersection, only a stop sign and railroad crossing signs to alert drivers to the train.
After living in the area for more than a decade, Black says she's hesitant to use the crossing.
"I had had occasion that I looked, but didn't see anything and I went across and, just as I got across, I got a horn blown at me or saw the headlight out of my eye of the train," she said. "I just thank the Lord that I didn't stay on that track."
News 19 reached out to the railroad transportation company CSX for comment, but hadn't heard back yet as of Saturday night.
The accident continues to be under investigation by the South Carolina Highway Patrol.