Drone spots crash victim injured on tracks with a train approaching, Minnesota cops say

As authorities in Minnesota extinguished the fire of a single-vehicle crash, they were unable to find the driver of the SUV.

But a drone did just in time.

The Renville County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched Friday, June 23, when a 911 caller saw a Buick Rendezvous on fire. There was no one inside the vehicle, however.

Deputies used a drone and infrared imaging technology in their attempts to find the driver, later identified as a 37-year-old man from Granite Falls. He was found about a mile away from the crash scene “in obvious distress,” according to the sheriff.

The man collapsed on railroad tracks, and the railway company was contacted to stop any trains traveling in the area, the sheriff said.

Local authorities said a train stopped in Sacred Heart about two miles from where the injured man had collapsed.

The victim, the sheriff said, was taken to a local hospital and later flown to a hospital in St. Cloud.

The cause of the crash is unknown. The sheriff did not provide the condition of the driver.

Renville County is in south-central Minnesota about 100 miles west of Minneapolis.