Authorities are investigating the cause of a freight train derailment in southern New Mexico that killed three railroad employees when the train's locomotive plunged 40 feet down a ravine.
Police identified the three as 38-year-old Donald White, 60-year-old Steven Corse and 50-year-old Ann Thompson. White lived in Silver City, N.M., and Corse and Thompson lived in the northern Arizona community of Paulden.
No other people were on the train.
State Police say the cause of the derailment is not known. It occurred Saturday afternoon near the community of Bayard, about 75 miles northwest of Las Cruces.
The eight rail cars being pulled by the locomotive remained either on or near the tracks. None of the iron ore being carried by the train spilled.
The train was operated by Southwest Railroad Inc.
The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating.
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