Duty of Care

On Wednesday morning, October 7, 2026, Axel Hernandez, 20, died in Durant, Oklahoma, in a workplace accident involving a railcar, according to the Durant Police Department as reported by News 9. His family identified him.

Police said employees of a local business were loading and moving railcars that were not connected to a locomotive when one began moving toward an active railroad track. It hit a derail device, which is designed to stop uncontrolled rail equipment from reaching an active track, and derailed. Hernandez was on the railcar and is believed to have been thrown from it or trapped underneath. Crews needed specialized heavy equipment and worked with Union Pacific Railroad to recover him; he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are treating it as a workplace accident and are working with Union Pacific special agents and the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. What caused the car to move had not been reported. For facilities with rail sidings, the defenses to check are car securement before work (hand brakes, chocks, derails), a written car-moving procedure, and keeping people off cars that can move.

• News 9