A 68-year-old nun was fatally struck by a train Tuesday morning in north suburban Highwood, authorities confirmed.
Reverend Sister Udochukwo Odoemena, a Catechism teacher at St. James School and a nun since 1975, was escorting another nun to the train station when the crash happened at about 8 a.m.
The other nun first crossed the tracks as an express train approached. Sister Odoemena then tried to cross the tracks and was struck. She was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
"This is a very dangerous intersection because the trains arrive from the north and the south at the same time, and if you're not aware of it, you might not know to look the other way and you might just step out there," Metra rider Selwin Price said.
"The express train that I know was involved moves incredibly fast, especially when you're standing this close to it," another rider, Claudio Conti, said.
Odoemena, a Sister with the Daughters of the Divine Lord Order, lived in the Convent at St. James School. She is originally from Nigeria, where she had been a teacher and principal, and came to the United States in 2008.
She was transferred to Highwood about a year ago.
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Nuns at the school called Odoemena's death a “very big loss.” They described her as the "peaceful type.”
"The school next door is attended by one of my kids. Something when it hits this close to home is absolutely terrifying," Conti said.
