Winton man is second to be killed by train in less than a week

A 33-year-old Winton man died Monday night after being struck by a freight train outside Merced, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office reported.

As the train passed through Merced on the BNSF tracks parallel to Santa Fe, just north of Highway 59, the conductor tried to slow the train after seeing an object on the tracks, Undersheriff Jason Goins said.

The train struck the man, identified as Xeng Xiong, and stopped on the tracks.

When county deputies and emergency medical technicians arrived about 7:20 p.m., they performed life-saving measures. Xiong was transported to Mercy Medical Center, where he died.

It was unclear why Xiong had been on the tracks, Goins said.

A man in his 20s died Friday in another area on the same stretch of tracks.

This story was originally published December 27, 2016 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Winton man is second to be killed by train in less than a week."